Quote:
And let Apollo drive Prince Hector back to battle,
breathe power back in his lungs, make him forget
the pains that rack his heart. Let him whip the Achaeans
in headlong panic rout and roll them back once more,
Tumbling back on the oar-swept ships of Peleus’ son Achilles.
And he, he will launch his comrade Patroclus into action
and glorious Hector will cut him down with a spear
in front of Troy, once Patroclus has slaughtered
whole battalions of strong young fighting men
and among them all, my shining son Sarpedon.
But then – enraged for Patroclus –
brilliant Achilles will bring Prince Hector down.
And then, from that day on, I’ll turn the tide of war:
back the fighting goes, no stopping it, ever, all the way
till Achaean armies seize the beetling heights of Troy
through Athena’s grand design.
Fate, it seems is predetermined by a force that far ascends the control of mortals and immortals alike. Throughout the epic poem, The Iliad, by the great bard, Homer, the importance and inevitability of fate is stressed. Although it is commonly believed that the gods are the ones that decide the fate of all things that dwell on the ancient world, it seems that they may be but the ones that implement and uphold the laws of fate. It does, however, seem although the gods are to abide by the laws of fate, they seem to have the authority to see it through however they wish, as long as the outcome is essentially the same. While it seems that gods are supposed to be these perfect beings, Homer portrays them as being just as human as we are when we see their actions in runtime. Throughout the course of the poem, there seems to be a lot of civil unrest among the Olympians, each of the two factions wanting their team to triumph and the other to falter. Let this essay, serve as an expose for the gods who we worship like Hollywood celebrities.
It is evident that all throughout the epic that Achilles and several gods are aware of where fate is going to take the two armies. Fate, I suppose is supposed to give a general guideline for how things are to turn out and the structure must be strictly followed; fate sets a time frame for which all things are to happen and approximately how it is supposed to happen. Zeus, supreme ruler of Mount Olympus, governs the laws of fate and it is up to him to ensure that everything happens at the right time and that it all fits into the grand scheme of it; it is also his responsibility to set it in motion. After the peace negotiations had failed between the two parties, Zeus sent Athena to convince the Trojan archer, Pandaros, to reinitiate the war by shooting an arrow at Menelaus. Athena was also responsible for the clever ruse that caused Hector to stop fleeing from Achilles and enter into the combat that would be his last. Zeus’ promise and implementation of what Thetis’ favor suggest that Zeus does not exactly have his hands tied; since her request to punish the Achaeans only changes a small detail as to how things will happen and the end result will not change, he grants her wish. It is implied that the job only requires that the outcome must stay true to the laws of fate, however Zeus intends to make it happen, seems to be totally up to him. Zeus is the devoted upholder of the laws, this and his authority over all the other gods are what keep Olympus from becoming chaotic, even though sometimes it seems that it comes close to it. It is mentioned a couple times that Zeus inflicts harsh punishments upon those who violate the natural order of things; Sleep was nearly sunk into the sea and Hera was strung in midair when they tried to tamper with the fate of Heracles.
It is totally up to Zeus to decide how all things occur to reach its end destination or outcome. Zeus, fearing for his son, Sarpedon’s life, was tempted to rescue him from cruel death at the hands of Patroclus, but he was reminded by hero that he too is subject to the law, not above it. However, not all the immortals that inhabited Mount Olympus felt the same obligations to follow the rules as they often broke the rules in order to grant the upper hand to their favored team. Hera, whose favorite cities were Sparta, Argos, and Mycenae, obviously favored the Achaeans and was willing to bend the rules in order to help them gain the upper hand.
Although we often see the gods more something of a different breed than we are, they are but our divine counterparts; they are also prone to experience emotions such as grief, sympathy or bias and unfairness of which they are often seen acting upon. Aphrodite watched the battle between Paris and Menelaus, which was supposed to resolve the conflict between the nations, and just as Paris was about to meet his doom, he was whisked away by the goddess. Prior to the beginning of the poem, Paris had judged that Aphrodite was the most beautiful among the goddesses in The Judgment of Paris and thus had won the favor of the lovely goddess. Alternatively, while Patroclus was experiencing his aristeia and was in battle against Sarpedon, Zeus feels pity for his son who is about to meet his death, and almost acts on it and saves him but doesn’t.
The status of the Trojan War seems to have created division among the gods, who want to see their favored nation obtain glory. The citizens of Olympus have created two factions of diehard fans: one in favor of the Achaeans (Athena, Hera, Poseidon and Hephaestus) and the other which favors the Trojans (Apollo, Ares, and Aphrodite).
Although it is currently incomplete, I believe that this could become a masterpiece worthy of the book that inspired it.