LOOKING AT THE GREEK GODS AS COMIC FIGURES.

LOOKING AT THE GREEK GODS AS COMIC FIGURES. The doings of the Greek and Roman gods have a humorous note that I don’t associate with any other religion. (This wikipedia article says that it was the Greeks who focused on narratives about the gods and that the Romans focused on ritual until they came under Greek influence.) I don’t see how the the situations the lust of Zeus creates and the reactions of Hera to those situations can be taken solemnly. They remind me of French farces (think Feydeau). Ovid’s Metamorphoses does have some powerful imaginings of what it feels like to change shape. But the thought of the philandering king of the gods changing Io into a cow to protect her from his long-suffering wife. Or a mortal judging a beauty contest among three goddesses who try to bribe him. Isn’t there a lack of decorum? And a chuckle? And what does that imply for the Greek view of the world?