What makes a true god?

Greek mythology features such a complex casts of gods, heroes, monsters, and humans that it often seems like there is no limit to the amount of beings that exist. At first, I saw the gods clearly seated at the top of this hierarchy, controlling all other beings below them. Yet as we progress further into the Odyssey, it seems that the line between gods and other being might be more blurred than I first conceived.

Calypso the nymph, for example, seems to be referred to as a “goddess,” and possess the immortal qualities and abilities that major gods like Hermes show. Yet she is not an Olympian, and seems to be tied to a particular island in nature rather than freely roaming the entire world. Similarly, an even less anthropomorphic deity is described to animate the river at the conclusion of book five, helping Odysseus to safety, though this “spirit” lacks even a name. Beyond that, titans, monsters, and other inhuman entities populate the world, some immortal, yet virtually all having supernatural powers. Even the gap between human and mythical immortal beings does not appear to be intraversible. Odysseus is given tempory immortality via a magical scarf by a Ino, who herself was, “a mortal woman once with human voice and called Leucothea no she lives in the sea’s salt depths, esteemed by all the gods as she deserves” (Book 5, Lines 366-369). Even Calypso talks of giving converting Odysseus to an immortal being, though she makes it clear that intimate relationships between gods and lesser beings are viewed with shame by the Olympians. With this vast array of mortal and immortal beings constantly interweaving in the fabric of time, the question arrises: what makes a true god?

The answer, I think, doesn’t coincide with what we see in other traditions, with gods being unlimited, omnipresent and omnipotent beings that possess complete knowledge of the world. As we progress up the hierarchy of gods towards Zeus, this persona seems to be more exemplified, yet I would argue that it is the distinct quality to influence destiny that separates the true gods from the other beings in Greek mythology. Calypso herself, though some might consider her a minor deity, admits that Odysseus will return home, “If only the gods are willing. They rule the vaulting skies. They’re stronger than I to plan and drive things home” (Book 5, Lines 198-199). Her haste to submit to the will of Zeus speaks to her inferiority in comparison to the powerful gods. Yet it is all too clear that no single god possess outright power to control destiny; try as the might, Athena cannot guarantee safety for Odysseus, nor Poseidon his demise. There is some occult force working that not even the gods fully understand. It could be the ability of humans to control their own destiny. It could (and I am starting to lean on this explanation) be a combination of the wills and actions of all earthly beings, a network of interlocking motivations that is greater than the sum of its parts, so to speak. Yet there is one thing that is clearly outside the jurisdiction of even the most powerful gods. “The great leveler, Death: not even the gods can defend a man, not even one they love, that day when fate takes hold and lays him out at last.”