It's All Geek to Me:
tales of the Greek Gods by Leah Samul
Eostre 1989: Athena and Salman Rushdie vs. Ares, skinheads and Shiites
Now be honest: six months ago, how many of you had even heard of Salman Rushdie, much less read his novels? Today it would be hard to find a single person who hasn't heard of him and the controversy surrounding his latest book, The Satanic Verses. Protests all over the world are shown on the news nightly, and recently two bookstores in Berkeley that carried the book were bombed. And the radio station KPFA received a bomb threat for airing a panel discussion that examined the book from various different perspectives. As if that weren't enough to make you feel like you weren't living in the "land of the free and the home of the brave," a bunch of neo-Nazi hate mongers recently held a white power rock concert in Napa, California. If this kind of stuff is happening in the "dawning of the age of Aquarius" I can't imagine what's going to be happening at high noon, much less in the heat of the night. You may be asking yourself (as I was) what could possibly be motivating these insane jerk-offs? Well I'm happy to tell you that you have a Greek God to blame for at least some of this craziness.
Enter Ares. Son of Zeus and Hera and according to Homer, brother of Eris-- who herself is no stranger to conflict, Ares was the most unpopular Greek God in the entire pantheon. The Greeks themselves regarded him more with terror and extreme dislike than sympathy. Except for a few vase paintings he was rarely represented in image or sculpture.
He was not only the god of war, but of brutality, blind violence, bloody rage and carnage. And even in war, he lacked the cool-headed and intelligent capabilities of Athena, who knew the difference between simply fighting for its own sake and fighting to defend a good cause. These two fought on opposite sides in the Trojan War. And it should be noted that Ares was inclined to change sides. He didn't really care about loyalty as much as he wanted to kick ass; a sort of ancient mercenary soldier.
In the beginning of the Iliad, Hera saw Ares getting out of hand with his bloodthirsty killing and she complained to Zeus, whose response was to send Athena down: "Go along, do; send Athena down to the hunt, she knows how to make him smart." (Translation: Enough of Ares' antics. Let's get down! Send Athena to the battle and she'll put him in his place!)
Athena went down and saw Diomedes in trouble. He was a brave fighter but he was no fool. When he noticed that Ares was on the opposite side, he thought it better to retreat and regroup than to tackle this consummate master of the battlefield. Athena told Diomedes she'd be on his side and protect him. When Ares saw her he foamed at the mouth with hatred: "Why then, shameless fly, dost thine insatiable audacity enflame the war between the gods? What ardour carries thee away? I think that today thou shalt pay for all thou hast done to me!" (Translation: Athena, you worthless piece of garbage, how dare you come after me? I'm a God! I've been wanting to get you for years because you're always picking on me, and now I'll make you pay!)
Fortunately, he was no match for Athena's strength and abilities, and after she wounded him she said: "Vain fool! Hast thou not yet learned how superior my strength is to thine?" (Translation: You stupid jerk, don't you ever learn that violence for its own sake can never match my intelligent strength and wisdom?) At this point Ares howled with rage and went running to his father, Zeus: "Now look what she's done! Put up this bully Diomedes to run amuck against the Gods! I barely got away! That crazy girl, curse her, she always has some mischief in hand!" (Trans: Waaaaaaaaah!!!! I got an owie and its all Athena's fault! I'm a God, and anyone who thinks they can blaspheme against us deserves to die! Kill kill kill kill kill!)
But Zeus had no use for this kind of complaining: "Don't sit there whimpering, Ares; I won't have it. You know that I hate you more than any other god alive. All you ever care about is discord and battle and fighting....However, I will not let you suffer any longer, for you are my son after all. But if any lesser god had begotten this nonsense he would have been down below the heavenly host long ago." (Trans: Oh stop crying in your beer, you little twerp! Won't you ever learn that you can't bully people into submission with your rage and hate? I really think you're the biggest jerk around, and if I had anything to say about it I'd let you die. But this constitution that I wrote up protects all my Olympian kids, and you, unfortunately, are one of them. And you've got the constitutional right to come to me and get healed when you are wounded.)
So you're wondering where the Shiites and skinheads are getting their ideas and energy from...? Ares is definitely a perfect, ready-made role model for these people. Of course, the current situation is more complicated than that. I don't mean to be conveniently blaming everything on the local archetype. Humans don't come out of the womb hating everyone that's different from them. They've got to be taught to hate, as the song goes. Fundamentalists of all kinds are taught this by their own interpretation of their religious beliefs. And the skinheads are being fed this poison by their neo-Nazi leaders, who have their own interpretation as to why things aren't peachy-keen and smooth as silk for them. After all, they're white, aren't they? In their minds that makes them Gods.
I think there are some striking parallels between the actions of Ares and those of the skinheads and fundamentalists. Like Ares, both these groups have whipped themselves up into a frenzy of hatred. And like Ares, they ruthlessly oppose anyone who opposes them. This is not true for other Greek Gods and Goddesses, who were sometimes won over by the spirit and tenacity of mortals they initially opposed. Ares tried to appeal to Zeus for protection, saying that these mortals shouldn't have the right to "run amuck against the immortal Gods." Fundamentalists, for their part, feel that because they have allied themselves with the one true God, no one has a right to represent a different theological view than theirs; to run amuck, as it were, over their religious viewpoint. They blame their opponents ("the great Satan", western ideology, secular humanism -- whatever) for all the problems in the world. Ares blamed Athena for the very conflict he was enjoying: "...dost thine insatiable audacity enflame the war between the Gods?" He wouldn't have said this if he was winning. But he wasn't, and there had to be someone else to blame.
For the skinheads, the problem is the Blacks, the Jews, the Asians and all the others who seem to have taken their jobs (or whatever they feel they are entitled to) away from them. And just as the skinheads wrap themselves up in the American flag and their constitutional rights to support their actions, so too Ares knew he could count on Zeus to heal him. If either of these groups had Athena's intelligence, they might look at things differently. The skinheads would see that the economy is making it very difficult for everyone to make ends meet. White males are no worse off than Blacks, women, or other minorities. Oppression does occur. No one would deny that people are out of work. But if anything is to blame for these tough times, it probably has more to due with our bloated military budget than programs like Head Start, which serve poor Whites as well as impoverished minorities. The fundamentalists would realize, as anyone with even two cents worth of brains can see, that Rushdie's novel is a work of fiction that can't possibly hurt a God who is supposed to be all-powerful, or his prophet.
As for the rest of us, we need the courage of Athena, who was always ready to fight for a cause that was just. We need to support bookstores that carry The Satanic Verses. And we need to write to our government officials and express our views on racism, anti-semitism, sexism, the need for more jobs, etc. We need to do this with the cool-headed intelligence of Athena, and the diplomatic skills of Themis, the Goddess of Justice. As Hesiod once said, "...For Justice, though often wounded, is always stronger in the end."
Sources: The Iliad by Homer, translated by W. H. D Rouse. The New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Gods and Heroes, by Gustav Schwab. Works and Days, by Hesiod.