Similarities Between Greek Gods And Mortals In The Iliad

In The Iliad, the Greek Gods are described to be very similar to humans. The gods not only physically resemble humans, but they are consistently portrayed as containing many personality characteristics and emotions prevalent in mortals throughout the text. The sole difference between gods and mortals is that the gods never die; leaving them no choice but to exist alongside each other for eternity. The beginning of The Iliad shows that they are cognizant of this fact when Hephaestus advocates Hera and Zeus to settle their disputes about the Greeks, since “they’ll be no more pleasure at our feasts if we let things turn ugly” (I, 608-609). Having to live in each other’s presence forever seems to be a reasonable motive to keep things harmonious.
However, “harmonious” is far accurate in describing the relationship between the gods. The relationship between the gods is comprised of deception and manipulation. This is also true for relationships between the mortals. Deception, manipulation, and assistance from deities were key motifs in the way the mortals and homeric deities fought the Trojan War. Paris caused the Trojan War by manipulating, deceiving, and receiving assistance from a goddess in order to get what he wanted.
Paris was offered assistance from Aphrodite in order to attain the most beautiful woman in the world as long as he declared her the most beautiful goddess over Hera and Athena. He then snuck into Menelaus’s palace and took Helen brought Helen to Troy as his possession. In the process, he deceived Helen’s husband, somehow manipulated Helen into leaving Greece, and was assisted by Aphrodite. In another significant scene, Hera used the human-like themes of manipulation, deception, and assistance from a deity in order to distract Zeus so she could sway the war towards an Achaean victory. Hera thought of a plan
to, “dress in all her glory and go to Ida- perhaps old desire would overwhelm the king to lay by her naked body and make immortal love and she might drift an oblivious, soft warm sleep across his eyes and numb that seething brain.” (XIV, 199-203).
Her plan was put into play and proved to be successful once her and Poseidon gave the Achaens some advantages in advancing on the Trojans. Hera and Paris both used deception, manipulation, and divine intervention in order to attain what they wanted. These are examples of how humans and the homeric deities use similar tactics in order to attain what they desire. Familial disputes occur within the mortals and the gods in The Iliad. Agamemnon and Achilles were intensely arguing over Agamemnon having to give up his “prize ”, Chryseis. King Agamemnon proclaims, “Not so quickly, brave as you are, godlike Achilles- trying to cheat me. Oh no, you won’t get past me, take me in that way! To cling to your own prize while I sit calmly by - empty-handed here?” (I, 153-157).

Agamemnon is outraged at his brother’s order to give up his own prize, Chryseis, in order to prevent further wrath from Apollo. He doesn’t trust Achilles and thinks he has ulterior motives in the exchange. Agamemnon suggests that Achilles is only saving his own prize giving himself more glory than his brother. Both brothers strive to establish personal superiority and power over the other. They refuse in their own superiority and their own subjective notion of the pursuit of excellence. They refuse to accept each other as equally powerful and this causes conflict. Not only do the mortals have familial disputes in The Iliad, but deities like Zeus and Hera do as well. Zeus and Hera hardly have a trusting relationship. Hera accuses Zeus of hiding his plans from her when she exclaims, “Always your pleasure whenever my back is turned, to settle things in your grand clandestine way. You never deign, do you, freely and frankly, to share your plots with me- never, not a word!” (I, 650-654).

Zeus angrily replies to her outburst, “you and your eternal suspicious- I can never escape you.
Ah but tell me, Hera, just what can you do about all this? Nothing. Only estrange yourself from me a little more- and all the worse for you. If what you say is true, that must be my pleasure. Now go sit down. Be quiet now. Obey my orders, for fear the gods, however many Olympus holds, are powerless to protect you when I come to throttle you with my irresistible hands.” (I, 674-683).

At this point, Homer made it clear that Zeus and Hera are far from divine symbols of trust and composure. In those aspects, they resemble mortals, Achilles and Agamemnon. One would assume that the almighty union of Zeus and Hera would be rid of flaws due to the fact that they are deities. Deities are perceived to be exceptionally better than the mortals in every aspect. However, this is not the case with the king and queen of Mount Olympus. Hera and Agamemnon share a distrust towards their family members, strive to establish their power, and have outbursts when they lose control over a situation. Zeus, Hera, Achilles, and Agamemnon all have a tempers, senses of pride, and senses of entitlement in controlling the events of the Trojan War. This shows that mortals and gods view each other with suspicion and intolerance and contain identical emotions of distrustfulness, anger, and
irritability. The humans and deities in The Iliad possess the ability to exercise free will. However, there are multiple limitations to free will in Homeric society. Within Mt. Olympus, the limitations are set by the king of the gods, Zeus. The mortals have limitations set by their kings and the deities. Many choices made by mortals and deities are greatly influenced by the consequences of angering the gods or their societal rulers. Women and their free will are limited in The Iliad due to the fact that gods and mortals objectify women and view them as lesser beings than men. King Agamemnon and his brother Achilles referred to women like Chryseis and Briseis as “prizes.” Women like Helen, Chryseis, and Briseis are unable to make decisions on things like who they “belong to.” It was evident that the gods shared this perspective towards women not only when Aphrodite offered Helen as a prize to Paris, but when she has a heated exchange with Helen. Both Helen and Aphrodite have a rather mysoginistic view towards women when Helen seethes at the sight of the goddess who sold her off. Helen sneers at Aphrodite, “Go to him yourself- you hover beside him! Suffer for Paris, protect Paris, for eternity… until he makes you his wedded wife- that or his slave,” (III, 470-474).

This quote suggests that Helen views herself and other women as property of men or they are easily able to be made their property by sleeping with them. The goddess, Aphrodite has the same mentality due to the fact that she basically sold Helen to Paris in exchange for Paris declaring Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess. Gods find a way to sway humans and their free will by disguising themselves as other beings. In book XXII, Hector was the last Trojan outside of the city’s walls. He foolishly decided to confront the powerful Achilles and soon realized his mistake when Achilles chased him around the city. The two warriors ran three full laps around Troy until Athena appeared to Hector in the form of his ally, Deiphobus, convincing him that the two could successfully fight Achilles. Once Hector stopped running and faced Achilles, he soon realized he had been deceived by the gods and faced his evident death. In this situation, the gods deceived the mortal into willingly facing his death. Athena led Hector to believe that he would have assistance in defeating Achilles and that is why he willingly stopped running from the Achaean war hero. The mortals in The Iliad possess implicit personality traits that administer the driving force behind their actions. The gods and their divine interventions act in direct accordance with the mortals, allowing them to practice their own free will. In many cases of the gods intervening in the Trojan War, they give the humans direction or advantages; allowing the humans to act as they please.