Theme of Justice in the Odyssey and the BibleJustice is a theme that differs in many different texts, and this is also true in the Odyssey and in the Bible. Justice in Homeric texts served to neutralize a situation and return things as they were, to a time of stability and respect for authority. However, the Bible has generally been interpreted as serving justice on a moral basis, as a means of punishing those who did not respect one another or act in the image of God. The Greeks of the Odyssey considered that justice came only from the gods. They believed that the gods punished them because they had fallen from grace, not because they had actually done anything wrong by human standards. As Socrates later stated in the Euthyphro, what is holy, and perhaps then just, is what is “approved by the gods.” Although Socrates proved this statement false, it still reflects the view of most Greeks. Zeus in the opening book of the Odyssey said: “Upon my word, see how mortal men always lay the blame on us, the gods! We are the source of evil, they say, while they only have their own folly to thank if their miseries are worse than they should be. This shows that the Greeks feared justice; they felt it was negative and often undeserved. However, each Greek deserved his punishment because he participates in his reason. For example, when Odysseus's troops killed Helios' cattle, they deserved to have Zeus destroy their ships because he had warned Odysseus beforehand not to let the men eat the cattle. When the Greeks disobeyed the gods, they disrupted the good order of things, and when the gods punished them, they made the other Greeks respect them again, and thus fixed the balance of the world.... ... middle of paper ......a game. The gods of the Odyssey used justice to be feared and gain respect, and God in the Bible used justice to show his love to his faithful followers and to help his wandering sheep stay on the path and learn his love for them. Works Cited and ConsultedBloom, Harold, The Odyssey of Homer: edited and with an introduction, NY, Chelsea House 1988Crane, Gregory, Calypso: Contexts and conventions of the Odyssey, Frankfurt, Athenaeum 1988Heubeck, Alfred, JB Hainsworth, et al . A commentary on Homer's Odyssey. 3 Vol. Oxford PA4167 .H4813 1988Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fitzgerald. New York: Vintage Books, 1989. Stanford, William Bedell. Homer's Odyssey. 2 Vol. MacmillanTracy, Stephen V., The Princeton UP Odyssey Story 1990 "Gospel of Matthew". The Holy Bible. New revised standard version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1989.