Gods' Smile, Gods' Grin

And a sky like lead.” For Thetis looked for what she thought defined the humans on her shores. First for gracious sacrifice and second for the pleasurous dancing and the games they played; of a lively, appreciative existence above and below the many hallowed gods. But what she saw wrought in the iron when Hephaestos had finished was the story of the relationship and meaning between the mortals and the immortals. Wound round in a perfect circle, the god-touched metal depicted those fundamental pieces that keep the cycle between the two preserved.

Redolent of the continual flow of time, a river rings the shield’s edge, serving to remind us of the ever-present distinction between the mortals and the immortals; the immortals as the preservers of life, and the mortals as those organisms the immortals provide for. Within this ring of preservation lies the 3 most pronounced characteristics of the mortal world - included are cattle, sheep and dance. Cattle serves to represent desire for wea

As it followed, Demeter went as far as to appear as an old mortal women looking to care for a mortal child, who she would treat as her own now that Persephone was gone. She was accepted by a family to rear their young son. She took care of the son as if he was a son of gods. In the middle of performing the rites that would turn young Demophoon into a god, his mother ran into the room and panicked because she thought that her son was burning in the godly flames. Demeter, offended, realized that the likes of immortals and mortals could not be compromised; she immediately resumed acting like the supreme goddess she is.

And it is this glory which is earned through war, through fighting; by becoming a hero. The story depicted on Achilles’ shield not only tells us a story about his life, but it declares a story of a hero. It represents the importance of valor to the mortals and how it pleases the gods, and how the gods give in return. Each (mortal and immortal) give and receive in their own way, owning up to the necessary balance between the two worlds.

It is ironic that this cycle should be depicted upon a shield. This shield, asserting all of the important aspects of mortal life, in fact serves to show us how the ‘mortal/immortal’ code is preserved – the shield is telling us that with this armor (with this valor) I – a mortal - am declaring myself a

Some topics in this essay:
, Hymn Demeter, Achilles Illiad, Seth Schein, mortals immortals, looking mortals,