Sunday, July 8, 2012

What are the differences between Odysseus and the Devil?

This question seems a bit like asking what the difference is between a banana and an airplane, as Odysseus and the Devil seem to have relatively little in common.  Odysseus is an ancient Greek hero, the man who conceived of the Trojan Horse, the great deception that ended the Trojan War.  He offended the god of the seas, Poseidon, by blinding his son, Polyphemus, a cyclops, and was therefore forced to endure a prolonged and tragic journey to reach his home in Ithaca, some ten years after the war ended.  
The Devil is the great villain of Christianity: he is a fallen angel named Lucifer, who took issue with God's love of humankind and then fell from grace by waging war against God.  He is the ruler of Hell and the tempter of men and women.  He came to Eve in the Garden of Eden, tempting her to eat an apple from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, causing the destruction of paradise and humanity's loss of innocence.  
Both are cunning, certainly.  Both are intelligent and can be charming when they choose.

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