timelets | (no subject)

I'm taking a Greek Classics class this quarter: The Iliad, The Odyssey, Tragedies, Herodotus and Thucydides. When I read the Iliad it strikes me how limited, if not non-existent, the Greeks learning tools are. Basically, they can look for omens, interpret dreams, encounter gods in disguise and pray. In contrast, the gods have all the information and knowledge but they are not in a hurry to share it with the mere mortals, unless they have a some kind of special relationship going on. The lack of knowledge is literally a tragedy for everyone in the story. Only Odysseus manages to ply information out of the immortals on a consistent basis.