Relationship Of God and Men in the Iliad
...r gods, as evidenced in the following verses, “We everlasting gods… Ah what chilling blows we suffer—thanks to our own conflicting wills—whenever we show these mortal men some kindness.(sparknotes.htm)” “Divine intervention in the Iliad causes conflicts not only in the mortal sphere but between the gods as well. Each god favors different men, and when these men are at war, divine wars often rage as well. Ares thus correctly attributes the gods' "chilling blows" to their "own conflicting wills. "Ares' whining does not make him unique among the gods. Homer's immortals expect to govern according to their wills, which are in turn governed by self-interest. Correspondingly, they complain when they do not get their way. Ares' melodramatic and self-pitying lament, which is greeted with scorn by Zeus a few lines later, probably implies some criticism of the gods by Homer. Ares' appearance here as a kind of spoiled child provides just one example of Homer's portrayal of the gods as temperamental, sulky, vengeful, and petty—a portrayal that may seek to describe and explain the inequities and absurdities in life on earth.(sparknotes.htm)” The humans in The Iliad seem to have had great faith in their gods and the relationships they had with them. They expected them to hear their prayers and to intervene into their affairs, as noted in the following scene. "So he wept and prayed an his noble mother heard him, seated near her father, the Old Man of the Sea in the salt green depths. Suddenly up she rose from the churning surf like mist and settling down beside him as he wept, stroked Achilles gently, whispering his name, “my child – why in tears? What sorrow has touched your heart? Tell me, please. Don’t harbor it deep inside you. We must share it all. And now from his depths the proud runner groaned: “You know, you know, why labor through it all? You know it all so well… We raided Thebe once, Eetion’s sacred citadel, we ravaged the place hauled all the plunder here and the armies passed it round, and share and share alike, and they chose Chryseis for Agamemnon.(Fagles 113)” It was not unusual for the poets and Greek heroes of the eighth century to pray to the gods for intervention into their worldly affairs. When this form of prayer opens a poem it is called epic conventions and invocation of the muse. The muses are one of the nine Greek goddesses whose parents are Zeus and Mnemosyne. Homer, in keeping with Greek tradition, also calls on the Greek goddesses, in prayer, to provide support in narrating The Iliad. "There is great distress, confusion and anger within Achilles, one of the most famous Greek warriors of the Trojan War, described in the opening verses. Homer, writes a very descriptive and emotional scene to explain the circumstances of Achilles, anger. The Iliad is considered In media res, due to the fact it starts in the middle of two enemies fighting for the return of two of their maidens Chryseis and Briseis and the Trojan War has just ended. One of the chief warriors of the Achaean army has taken Chryseis as his trophy and Achilles takes Briseis for his trophy. Chryses finds out that his daughter Chryseis has been taken hostage and offers payment for her safe return. His reward offer is denied, so as a holy priest to Apollo he invokes his intervention to aid in getting his daughter returned. (sparknotes.htm) Chryses is highly distressed and desperate for the return of his daughter. His plead has been heard by Apollo, who wages an attack against the Achaians. The troops fall in vast numbers as if they have been hit with a deadly plague. Achilles is overwhelmed by the plague that has killed so many warriors and prays to Thetis asking her to protect him and his warriors from the attacks of Apollo. Thetis, goes to Olympus and pleads with Zeus to help the Achaians. Achilles, emotional distress has a profound effect on Thetis, which provides a truth to the fact that the gods have conflicting wills. Because of Achilles’ plead to Thetis, his goddess mother, Zeus agrees to attack Agamenon and the Achaians, for their actions against him. The Achaians first victories during the Trojan War are due to the Zeus' intervention. The gods fight about the decision made by Zeus to intervene in the war, which again show how they are emotional tied to humans, and that emotion sometimes over ride their ability to make decisions. Throughout The Iliad the reader is entertained by the way in which Homer cleverly reveals how the Gods inter-relate to humans. Consider the opening verses when Homer tells about the will of Zeus moving towards the Achaians and the devastation caused by Apollo. Recall Athena's appeal to Zeus for retribution against Achilles. Next, Homer shows how the Gods intervene into human being circumstances by illustrating Chryses prayer to Apollo and his response in using arrows to kill many troops. Finally, because there is evidence in Homer's poem tha...