Free will is defined as: Voluntary choice or decision; freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention (Webster's Online Collegiate Dictionary). Free will had an effect on the Greeks, Christians, and the Romans. Three stories, Oedipus the King, the Bible, and the Aenied, respectively, that we have studied and that fall in each society are examples of how free will is altered by different societies and how it effects their lives.

Oedipus the King was written by a Greek, Sophocles. During this time, the Greeks believed that everything was done for the gods, they did not have free will over their lives. There are many examples in the play in which the gods are controlling and tell the people what they should do or how they should live their lives. At the end of the play Oedipus asks Creon to banish him from Thebes:

Oedipus: Drive me out of Thebes, in exile.

Creon: Not I. Only the gods can give you that.

Oedipus: Surely the gods hate me so much-

Creon: You'll get your wish at once...(Oedipus 639 lines 1168-71).

Creon and Oedipus discuss here how they have no control over their lives, decisions

Virgil. The Aenied. The Norton Anthology: World Masterpieces. Ed. Lawall. & Mack.

The gods told Aeneas that he should found a city. He did not necessarily feel that he was forced, he just knew that what the gods told him to do was right. But, like the Greeks, the Romans did not have free will to do as they pleased. They were simply told what to do by the gods, not destined or fated like the Greeks.

Dictionary. 8 October 2000. www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

Merriam Webster's Online Collegiate Dictionary. 2000. Merriam Webster's Collegiate

and all. The gods are the ones who make all of the choices. Oedipus, along with the rest of the Greeks, believed that he had no say in the way his life was going to turn out. He believed that it was destined for his life to end the way it did, with him being cursed and banished from Thebes.

The Aeneid was written by the Roman, Virgil. During this time, the Roman's believed that they did not have free will, the gods told them what to do with their lives. Aeneas believed that his mission, to found a city that would be the Roman state, was imposed upon him by the gods.

The god's interpreter...has brought

Genesis. The Bible. The Norton Anthology: World Masterpieces. Ed. Lawall. & Mack.

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Approximate Word count = 865
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)