Analyzing the Idea of Divine Intervention

         Dating back to the beginning of the Greek empire, people have always believed in divine intervention by their gods or their deity. This intervention is usually characterized as beneficial if not essential in the hero's journey. What people tend to forget is that throughout mythology, the gods are also seen as spiteful and unstable towards the people that revere them. Homer depicted the gods as powerful beings, with definite negative attributes that harm people if they do not appease these higher beings. This has caused be to question whether people look up to their spiritual leaders for power and strength, or if they simply appease them to avoid harm and repercussions because of the instability of these leaders. A prime example of the instability of the gods and divine intervention would be the Legend of Prometheus in Edith Hamilton's book of mythology.
      Described as one of the earliest hero's within Mythology, Prometheus is predominantly known for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to man. He is often revered as one of the greatest hero's for aiding the human race within Greek mythology. As the story goes, Zeus ultimately punished Prometheus for this, by imprisoning him on the high piercing cliff of Caucasus where eagles came every day to peck out his liver. Prometheus was immortal so the suffering was eternal. The attitude of Zeus towards someone he once considered an ally shows how the gods were thought to be revengeful towards those who displeased them. This is where humanity god the foundation for the idea of praising the gods to avoid repercussions in their own lives.
      The reason why this unforeseen pressure of divine intervention is so effective is because the actions of the gods instilled fear within the hearts of many. These tales told of merciless acts by the gods on mortals because of something the other gods had done. An example of this would be how Hera, queen of the gods always took spite in the many mortal women Zeus came into contact with, and how these mortals were punished for meddling in these affairs. Although the idea of divine intervention is supposed to aid the hero in the hero's journey, it also plays the role as the archetype of the devil figure which interferes with and tries to destroy the actions of that hero depending on the situation. People were afraid of the immense power of the gods and more focussed on not ticking them off then on the path of their lives. They believed that if they appeased the gods, the gods would reward them by giving them a prosperous life.
       This idea of proactively living to avoid repercussions has spread to the modern world in ways which we really don't consider. Take the idea of karma for example. The basic principle that the actions that you do influence the events that will occur. If a person does something good, then good things will happen, whereas if a person does something morally wrong, bad events will occur. Although this principle is widely used in society, people don't think where it originated from. It has been engrained in our minds, that in order to succeed, one must exhibit good and positive attributes in order to do so, partly because the gods or the spiritual being of your religion will aid you because of it. This archetype of divine intervention has been so effective, that we use it without recognizing it, because it seems like common sense.
      I think that Homer and the poets who are credited with coming up with these myths thought that the gods were revengeful because of experiences that happened such as famine and drought occurring when no praise to the gods existed. Without knowing it, this simple concept of divine intervention negatively impacting the hero because of actions done by the hero, has helped society in unimaginable ways. Society has accepted this idea and people recognize that the path to success is easiest when a person does good actions, because divine intervention will willingly help that person along the way. What other examples of archetypes that have extended into society exist today? Also, what other examples of divine intervention in media show this concept of actively affecting peoples' moral decisions?