ABSTRACT
As I have illustrated in three recent papers, the Iliad and the Odyssey use different emphases in presenting the physical figure of the gods when the divine beings intervene among mortals and are perceived as being there (epiphany). 1 It is difficult to summarize a complex matter in a few words, but I may safely say that the Iliad does not invite its reader to imagine the shape and the form of the divine bodies and does not claim to describe them in their visible appearance, but either presents the divine beings in disguised human figures or covers their physical presence with extreme reticence. With a very few exceptions, the text lets us imagine nothing of the semblance of the epiphanic god. We confront, so to speak, a blank figure. Often the hero recognizes only the voice of the god: this is the only way through which Odysseus receives and recognizes the presence of Athena (Il. 2.282, ὀ δέ ξυνέηϰε θεᾶς ὅπα φωνησάσης, and 10.512). Gods have a special voice that sometimes makes them recognizable even when they appear in disguise.
