The Role Of Greek Gods In The Iliad
 
by Homer
 
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 whom they would favor for different
reasons, except Zeus: As the symbol of supreme authority
and justice, he makes judgment calls as to the other gods'
involvement in the war, remains impartial, and doesn't seem
to get caught up in picking favorites. 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 favored 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 Agamemnon's
refusal to ransom Khryseis, the daughter of one of his
priests and was constantly changing the course of the war
in favor 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 judgment, 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 heroes of the Iliad. This
can be seen throughout the book as Zeus attempted to
increase the honor 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.