Blasphemy

I mentioned Thrasymachus before, how it introduces grammatical concepts and mythology together. The section I'm presently working through jokingly references the myth of Eris in order to teach superlatives (e.g. white, whiter, whitest):

Hera: How white is my robe!

Aphrodite: But mine is whiter.

Athena: But mine is the whitest.

Aphrodite: But I am rich.

Athena: But I am richer than Aphrodite.

Hera: But I am the richest of the gods.

Athena: (She gets huffy.) But I am sitting in a lofty chair!

Hera: (She gets huffier.) Of course, but I am in a loftier one!

Aphrodite: (She gets the huffiest.) But I am in the loftiest!

Athena: (She speaks arrogantly.) But I am lovely!

Hera: (She speaks more arrogantly.) But I am lovelier than Athena!

Aphrodite: (She speaks the most arrogantly.) But I am the loveliest of the gods!

"The loveliest," of course, being "καλλίστη," which was written on the golden apple. (Well, almost, there's a case difference, but whatever.)

Of course, one cannot get their theology from a grammar textbook, but the way I was raised, this would be considered blasphemous in the extreme—how dare one make light of the gods for being so petty! But, I was thinking about it, and rather than being blasphemous, I actually think that it makes a lovely little offering to Them. It made me laugh, and does not laughter honor Aphrodite? It is helping me to learn, and does not learning honor Athena? It made my wife glad to see me enjoying something (a rare occurrence, frankly), and does that not honor Hera?

I think blasphemy, then, is perhaps a misguided concept. By living (even living badly, if that is all we are capable of), we participate in the gods. By participating in them, we honor them.