Greek Gods In The Iliad

In the Iliad, the Gods play a role in many of the events that transpire. In many cases, it is that one of the Gods is physically interfering so that one person or side may be helped, in other cases it is that a God is bringing bad fortune or disease to a side so they may be weakened. The three biggest points in which the Gods interfere is when Apollo spreads disease among the Greeks, when Aphrodite pulls Paris out of combat so he would not die, and when Athena makes Hektor faces Achilles by bamboozling him into believing that she was his brother.

At the beginning of the Iliad, Apollo spreads disease among the Greek cattle and soldiers, causing many to fall ill and die. This is one of the first major interventions by the Gods and it proves devastating. This was brought on because Chryses, a priest of Apollo, who in Book 1 prayed that a plague would be spread about the Greeks for taking his daughters. Ultimately, one of the sister, Briseis is returned to her father as a result, however, the other sister, Chryseis remained with the Greeks. Because Of the loss of Briseis, Agamemnon seizes Chryseis from Achilles which leads to Achilles leaving the Greek forces. All of this was inadvertently caused by Apollo and had he not spread disease, Achilles may have never left the Greek for a period of time. The next major infraction on the story by a God was

The first is whenever Menelaus began to drag Paris on the ground by his helmet, Aphrodite loosened his helmet straps so that he would be able to get up and fight. THe second instance is whenever she whisks him away from the battle right before his defeat and puts him in his bedroom next to Helen. Had Aphrodite allowed him to die on either of those occasions, the war may have ended right then and there and Helen would have been returned to the Greeks. But, since Aphrodite interfered, the war was able to continue and would lead to the fight between Hektor and