I’m reading the Odyssey and most of the time the gods are mentioned by name as doing this or that, but there are a few passages where it’s just “God” who is mentioned, such as the following:
So who is “God”? Is it Zeus?
I took a quick look at the Greek text for the last two quote,s which appear in book XVIII, lines 137 (“For God almighty…”) and 141-2 (“Let a man fear…”).
The translation you apparently are reading from is Samuel Butler’s. In line 137, Butler has rendered pater theon - “father of the gods” as “God Almighty” (wish I could type Greek characters here; the ‘o’ in theon is supposed to be circumflexed omega).
In line 141, the translation is much freer; the Greek reads toi me tis pote pampan aner athemistios eie - “Therefore let no man ever be lawless at any time”; the key word here is athemistos - “lawless”, which as you can see is something akin to a + theos - “without god”, and so the root meaning of the word is “godless”. I guess “not being lawless/godless” is equivalent to “fear(ing) God” in Butler’s translation.
In line 142, the Greek translated as “the good that heaven…” is the more pedestrian dora theon - “gifts of the gods”.
I’m too tired to look up the other two, but I’m betting you’ll see something similar: You shouldn’t read too much into these kind of statements, as the translator’s hand brings a lot of interpretation never intended by Homer. If you’re hoping to prove Homer had a secret belief in monotheism based on passages like this, I don’t think you’ll be too successful.
Like CJJ said it’s because of the translator. Also just as man can mean mankind god can mean godkind or the gods.
This isn’t about the Simpsons, is it? :o
And how the translator is trying to cram it into the meter. I like Butler’s translation (much better than his original stuff) but that’s one place it lacks.
You also see “God” used in some of the Plato dialogues.
Marc