“Thou art symbol and sign, to mortals of their fate and force.”
-Lord Byron
Gods are of essential
presence in the Iliad. Homer’s mortal and immortals are in close contact. They
look the same and are often portrayed as speaking, acting and feeling in
similar ways. They are contrasting mirror images of mortals. They are
anthropomorphic. Homer’s world is immensely populated by the pantheon of
Olympian gods and lesser gods and all of them possess individual personalities
and traits. Gods are the key agents in the Iliad. Gods are often identified on
the basis of epithets that Homer rewards to them. e.g. “lame god-Hephaestus”,
“man-slaughtering Ares”, “ox-eyed Hera” etc. the divine figures are not
intrigued in the battle only, but they also appear in domestic scenes and
assemblies. Lesser gods like Thetis, muses, nymphs also take part in the plot
of Iliad actively. Like the promise of Thetis that Zeus had to fulfil was the
major aspect of the Iliad and was responsible for most of destruction of the Greek
army. Deus ex Machina - Many tragedy writers used Deus ex Machina as a poetic
device to resolve complicated or even seemingly hopeless situations in the
plots of their plays. The phrase is loosely translated as “god from the
machine.” It is the idiosyncrasy of Homer that he makes a regular intervention
of gods directly or indirectly.
According to Homer in
book two, the muses are omniscient and omnipresent goddesses while human beings
are completely opposite of this, therefore mortals are not capable of knowing
and telling everything even if they would’ve given ten mouths. The voice of
muses, which never tires, therefore, Homer asks for their help to speak.
The gods action in the
epic are terrifying and deadly. The world of gods is structured around the dysfunctional
family of Zeus, Hera and their children. They live in a Panhellenic world. The
Greek gods are deathless (anthanotos) and ageless (ageraos). Throughout the
Iliad, Hera, Athena and Poseidon favour the Greeks due to past grudges they had
against the trojans; primary reason being the judgement of Paris. Ares, Apollo and Aphrodite were contributing
for the trojan side. Hera and Ares had headstrong ungovernable temper. Greeks
admired moderation which lacked in Hera and Ares.
Sometimes gods also favor their personal
favorites like Athena’s dearest were Diomedes and Odysseus. On the other hand,
Aphrodite always rescued her son Aeneas.
Gods intervene in human
affairs by sending dreams, delivering prophecies which are interpreted by
soothsayer and augurs like calchas on the Greek side and Hellenus on the trojan
side. Sometimes mortals fail to show the gods due reverence and hence they end
up paying heavy prices for this. For example, in book 23, during the funeral
games of Patroclus, Tereus didn’t pray to Apollo and he lost the game. Further
we see, Gods do behave like ordinary men. They show up in assemblies to discuss
and debate about important issues like in book 1, when Thetis approaches Zeus
on the behalf of Achilles, we can see the maladjusted family of Zeus and Hera
quarrelling like mortals. Both male and female gods often take part in the
battle. The battle of gods is also called ‘theomachy’. Gods fight against each
other and also against mortals. The gods in the Iliad are free and
irresponsible for the deeds they commit. The gods eat and drink like mortals
but their drink is immortal nectar and ambrosia. Book 5 describes gods as “who
eat no bread and drink, no sparkling wine and so are bloodless and are called
immortals.” Gods suffer no pain as they have never experienced pain. The gods
play an active and complex role in guiding the plots of the battle. Gods intend
suffering and sorrows in store for both sides in the heat of the battle. The
mortals blame the immortals for their suffering. In book 3 Priam says that it
is not Helen who is responsible for the war, but the gods themselves. It is the
gods who have brought the war against the Greeks with all tears.
Gods envy mortals. Gods
often overstep the boundary of decency and honour. In book 7, Poseidon was
infuriated when he saw the Greeks making a wall to protect their ships. He
complaints that the wall built by him and Apollo will be forgotten in place of
this wall. Gods have no or very little honour. Gods are the savior as well as
the doom of the warriors.
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| Achilles slays Hector with Athena's intervention. Source: Wikipedia |
Divine interventions can
help or hinder the heroes on the battlefield like the way Athena helped
Achilles in book 22 to kill Hector, when she came in the disguise of Hector’s
brother. Even Zeus can’t ultimately save a hero from death, not even his own
son Sarpedon because the fate, Moirai, is much greater than the gods
themselves. Death is evitable to the gods but even they suffer wounds,
treachery, seduction and quarrels but in the end, they are immortal and
transcendent. The Greek gods are the most powerful, they are omnipotent. In
book 14, Poseidon can roar as loud as the war cry of nine to ten thousand men.
In book 15, Apollo destroys the wall made by Greek labour like a child playing
on beach destroys sand castles. When gods appear to mortals, they generally do
so by disguising themselves as mortals. In book 17 Thetis says that none is
more miserable of all the creatures, than man, that breathe and creep on earth.
Gods also often express
their grief like humans. For example, after the death of Sarpedon, son of Zeus,
Zeus expresses his grief by sending a shower of bloody rain drops on the plains
of troy. Zeus is also led by Thetis’s supplication to offer victory to trojans.
The gods bargain on human
lives. This shows the arbitrary nature of gods not helping the mortals on the
basis of their talent and ability. They have no limits, honour and humility.
This can be proved by the episode of death of Hector and as Shakespeare had
said
“As flies to wanton boys, are we to gods; they kill us for their sport.”
