Justin Chen
English 129—Section 3
Professor: Diana Paulin
September 15, 1999

The Role of the Gods in The Iliad

Homer references the higher powers thought to rule human existence throughout his epic poem The Iliad. Indeed, as early as the opening lines, the narrator appeals to the heavenly muses for divine inspiration: �Rage—Goddess, sing the rage of Peleus� son Achilles� (I, 77, 1). It is therefore clear from the beginning that mysterious, distant forces much greater than man are at work. As the story unfolds, however, the gods gradually become much more accessible, to the point where they actually engage in physical combat amid the throngs of warring mortals. In fact, the whims and vagaries of the gods shape the events of The Iliad and directly influence the actions of the humans in the epic. As the story unfolds, the gods� actions begin to parallel and even explain some of the central issues the Greeks of the time struggled with, including jealousy, vengeance, and justice.

At the beginning of the poem, the gods take on a somewhat mysterious and distant role. The mortals pray to the gods for inspiration, as in the first line, as well as for success in battle or in seeking revenge. For instance, Chryses prays for vengeance against Agamemnon thus: �Hear me, Apollo! � now bring my prayer to pass. / Pay the Danaans back—your arrows for my tears!� (I, 78, 43). The Greeks look upon the gods as lofty arbiters of justice who occasionally grant mortals special powers or superhuman strength. Yet as the play continues, the gods slowly descend from a state of divine passivity to one of physical struggle at the human level.

The gods� motives for getting involved in the war usually are not noble, and are sometimes downright petty. Indeed, the entire initial alignment of the three major goddesses on both sides of the war is a result of nothing more than jealousy and resentment, emotions one would normally attribute to humans and not divine beings. Hera and Athena, two goddesses usually not seen in an alliance, fight on the side of the Argives merely to destroy Aphrodite�s Trojans. Hera�s support of the Argives is all the more striking because ordinarily, as was the case with Heracles, Hera does everything within her power to ruin Zeus� offspring from other marriages. Yet even after Achilles joins in the fighting Hera continues her support of the Argives, suggesting that her jealousy of Aphrodite has an unusually enormous influence on her. Jealousy manifests itself strongly in the interactions of the mortals as well. For instance, Agamemnon reacts with petulance to the revelation that he must give up his prize, Chriseis, in order to appease the gods. He blusters, �But fetch me another prize, and straight off too, / else I alone of the Argives go without my honor. / That would be a disgrace. You are all witnesses, look � my prize is snatched away!� (I, 81, 138). After Achilles counters these complaints with some complaints of his own, Agamemnon retorts, �Not so quickly, / brave as you are, godlike Achilles—trying to cheat me� / What do you want? To cling to your own prize / while I sit calmly by—empty-handed here?� (I, 81, 153). These sentiments, though seemingly childish, are parallel to those expressed by the actions of Hera and Athena, namely that if one does not win out, one should make the victors suffer as much as possible.

Vengeance is another large motivation for the gods� involvement in the war. Zeus involves his awesome powers in the conflict only to satisfy Thetis� plea that he avenge the wronging of Achilles. Hera and Athena�s support of the Argives, though stemmed of jealousy, can very much be related to vengeance in terms of their active involvement in the war. They both use all the skills at their disposal to turn the tides of battle to favor their chosen side. Vengeance is also, of course, an extremely important concept for the mortals. Achilles is the primary embodiment of vengeful passion. When Agamemnon sends the embassy to Achilles to win his favor, Achilles refuses to be swayed: �Shameless, inveterate—armored in shamelessness!� Not if he gave me ten times as much, twenty times over� no, not even then could Agamemnon / bring my fighting spirit round until he pays me back, pays full measure for all his heartbreaking outrage!� (IX, 264, 454). Achilles� anger and thirst for vengeance supersede even his love for his comrades in arms. Again, the gods� actions and emotions bear a striking resemblance to the mortals�.

Finally, justice is an issue that the Greeks of Homer�s time struggled with, and it figures heavily into The Iliad. In fact, the way many of the events that transpire throughout the course of the poem are justified is by relegating responsibility to the gods. Aphrodite provoked the entire conflict by giving Helen to Paris to begin with. When the tide of battle flows one way or another, so the story goes, one of the gods has inevitably gotten involved in the conflict. For instance, when the Trojans engage in a massive offensive against the Argives, �not even now would Trojans and Prince Hector / have burst apart the rampart�s gates and huge bar / if Zeus the Master Strategist had not driven / his own son Sarpedon straight at the Argives� (XII, 334, 337). Achilles� power is thought to be derived directly from the gods; the river Xanthus, in asking Achilles to stop jamming the water with corpses, states, �Stop, Achilles! Greater than any man on earth, / greater in outrage too—for the gods themselves are always at your side!� (XXI, 527, 240). Thus, in the case of justice, the actions of the gods are directly responsible for the events that affect the mortals. In the inevitable back-and-forth of war, the Greeks used the gods as an explanation for some of the seeming injustices to which they were witness. For instance, when the Argives pray for Ajax� protection, they acknowledge that justice is entirely in the hands of the gods: �Father Zeus— / ruling over us all from Ida, god of greatness, glory! / Now let Ajax take this victory, shining triumph! / But if you love Hector, if you hold him dear, / at least give both men equal strength and glory� (VII, 221, 232). Thus, the gods� actions directly influence the human concept of justice rather than paralleling it.

The Iliad is an embodiment of the central issues and concerns that the Greeks of Homer�s time period wrestled with. Concepts such as justice, vengeance, and jealousy all play an important role in the poem. The actions of the gods often mimic human responses to these emotions. Until the end of the novel, the gods continue to evolve from divine beings aloof from the trials of mortality to extremely human creatures with many of the same tendencies as the men over which they rule.