Greek Gods In Illiad Essay, Research Paper

With our view of God, it can sometimes be difficult to comprehend the actions

and thinking of the Greek deities. The Christian God does not tend to take such

an active role in the affairs of people’s lives, where, on the other hand, the

Greeks regarded direct involvement by the gods as a daily, uncontrollable part

of life. Needless to say, divine intervention was a major variable in the

equation of Homer’s Iliad. The gods picked who they would favour for different

reasons. Except Zeus: As the symbol of supreme authority and justice, he makes

judgement calls as to the other gods’ involvement in the war, remains impartial,

and doesn’t seem to get caught up in picking favourites. Even when his own son,

Sarpedon, was about to die, Zeus chose to let the outcome go unaltered. On the

other hand, Zeus’s wife, Hera, displayed the more typical actions of a god.

After Paris, a Trojan, judged Aphrodite the fairest over Hera, and, after her

daughter Hebe was replaced as cupbearer to the gods by a young Trojan boy, she

was quite resentful towards Troy and its people. Obviously she sided with the

Greeks and would stop at no length to express her will. Scheming and

manipulating she even dared to trick her husband, King of the Gods. Hera, along

with Athena, who was also passed over by Paris, is seen as the chief divine aid

to the Greeks. Being the god of the sea, Poseidon was another strong supporter

of the ocean-faring Greeks. Whenever Zeus turned his back Poseidon tried to help

the Greeks in the fight. Poseidon felt that he was somewhat Zeus’s equal as his

brother, but recognizing Zeus’s authority and experience, he looked to Zeus as

an elder. There were also Gods who favoured the Trojan side of the conflict.

Both Apollo and Artemis, twin brother and sister, gave aid to the city of Troy.

Although Artemis takes a rather minor role, Apollo, perhaps angered by

Agamemmnon’s refusal to ransom Khryseis, the daughter of one of his priests and

was constantly changing the course of the war in favour of the Trojans.

Responsible for sending plague to the Greeks, Apollo was the first god to make

an appearance in the Iliad. Also, mainly because Apollo and Artemis were on the

Trojan side, their mother, Leto, also helped the Trojans. Aphrodite, obviously

supporting Paris’s judgement, sided with the Trojans. Although she was

insignificant on the battlefield, Aphrodite was successful in convincing Ares,

her lover and the god of war, to help the Trojans. One view of the gods’

seemingly constant intervention in the war was that they were just setting fate

back on the right course. For instance, when Patroklos was killed outside of

Troy, Apollo felt no guilt for his doings. It had already been decided that

Patroklos would not take Troy, he should never have disobeyed Achilles in the

first place. As a god, he was just setting fate on a straight line. Achilles

laid blame on Hektor and the Trojans. He did not even consider accusing Apollo,

who never came into question, although he was primarily responsible for the

kill. Apollo’s part in the matter was merely accepted as a natural disaster or

illness would be today. This general acceptance of a god’s will is a recurring

trend throughout the poem. A prime example of this trend is in book XXIV.

Achilles, angry over the death of Patroklos brutally disgraced Hektor’s body.

Tethering Hektor’s corpse through the ankles, Achilles dragged him around

Patroklos’s tomb every day for twelve days. This barbaric treatment was uncalled

for and displeased the gods greatly. Achilles mother, Thetis, was sent by Zeus

to tell him to ransom the body back to the Trojans. One may think Achilles would

be possessive of the body and attempt to put up a fuss as he did before with

Agamemmnon in Book I. But, Achilles showed humility and respect for the gods and

immediately agreed to ransom the body to the Trojans, showing that all mortals,

even god-like Achilles, were answerable to the gods. This ideology would seem to

give the gods a sort of unlimited freedom on earth, although, the gods could not

always do as they pleased and eventually had to come before Zeus. Zeus acted as

a balance of sorts throughout the Iliad. He had to keep the gods in order and

make sure that what fate decreed would happen. For example, after Achilles

re-enters the battle Zeus declared that if Achilles was allowed to go on

slaughtering the Trojans with nothing to slow him down, he would take Troy

before fate said it would happen. Therefore, to counter Achilles massive

retaliation against the Trojans, Zeus allowed the gods to go back to the battle

field. In Zeus’s own interests, he preferred to deal with issues more personal

to the individual heros of the Iliad. This can be seen throughout the book as

Zeus attempted to increase the honour of certain individuals. Zeus knew that

Hektor was going to be killed by Achilles, and, feeling sorry for Hektor Zeus

attempted to allow Hektor to die an honourable death. For instance, when Hektor

stripped Achilles armour off Patroklos, Zeus helped Hektor "fill out"

the armour so he would not seem like less of a man then Achilles. Zeus also gave

his word to Thetis that Achilles would gain much glory showing his involvement

on a personal level. Homer used the gods and their actions to establish twists

on the plot of the war. It would not have been possible for him to write the

story without the divine interventions of the gods. Indeed, they affected every

aspect the poem in some way, shape or form. Yet, from the immortal perspective

of the Greek god, the Trojan war, and everything related to it, was only a

passing adventure in the great expanse of time.