Cultural Attitudes Reflected In War. Vanissa Tsang. ....

Cultural Attitudes Reflected in War Vanissa Tsang Conflict is inevitable when rules have been dismissed or violated, or when something valuable has been stolen or damaged. The Israelites got involved with an internal war when Saul became jealous of David for being the Lord’s next chosen king; The Trojan War happened because Paris took Helen from Menelaus. Although war is a common form of conflict for the Israelites and Greeks, its objective differs by Israelites fight to gain God’s favor, or power, whereas Greeks roots from the honor of one self, legacy of the family, and reputation of the community. The start of wars with the Hebrews are influenced by the Israelites’ displease from or to God, or simple rule violations; Greeks’ wars†¦show more content†¦In Greek, Helen was Menelaus’ wife until Paris took her back to Troy. Because she was not fairly obtained as a prize through battle, Paris is ‘that man [who] robbed / of [Menelaus’] sumptuous, warm wife† (Iliad, III, 61-62). A wife is usually seen as a prized treasure to Greek and Trojan men alike, so when Helen was stolen, it was an insult to Menelaus’ pride. Had he done nothing about it, then the Greeks would be cowards for not fighting to claim back what was rightfully theirs, and letting anyone step over them and casually taking things from them. A war on pride was fought between Achilles and Agamemnon when Agamemnon took â€Å"Briseis in all her beauty, [Achilles’] own prize - / so [he] can learn just how much greater [Agamemnon is] than [him]† (Iliad, I, 2 18-219). Agamemnon felt that his time was taken away, and to replace what is being lost, he deliberately makes Achilles’ suffer through the same humiliation to restore his own glory and to assert his position as king. The attitudes that was brought into war is different between the Hebrews and Greeks, where Hebrews enter with uncertainty about their success and turnouts, while Greeks proceed with passion and excitement for honor. After Lord’s forsaken, Saul desperately â€Å"inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him† (I Samuel 28:6) when he saw Philistine’s force. This led him to resort to consulting Samuel’s ghost, which is a practice of necromancy, something