15. The Ancient Greek Gods Could be Arbitrary and Capricious
Of all the victims of divine vengeance, few were more innocent and undeserving of such a fate than Actaeon. The Ancient Greeks’ worldview differed greatly from the orderly worldview of the major monotheistic religions, in which the universe is ruled by an omniscient, omnipotent, and infallible God. Such a God is always just – even if mortals are sometimes incapable of grasping the justice behind some of His actions. By contrast, the gods of Ancient Greece were often seen as arbitrary and capricious.
Few myths depict that conception of the Olympians’ arbitrariness and capriciousness as does that of Actaeon. Most entries in this article are about mortal or immortal beings who did something to invite the vengeance of the gods, or at least found themselves in a situation in which the wrath of a good was understandable, even if unjustified. The unfortunate Actaeon on the other hand endured a divine punishment despite not having done anything of his own volition that could have justified his fate.
