Who directs the course of action in The Iliad?
From the very first lines, we’re told “…the will of Zeus was moving toward its end.”
Is this an immovable will? Are humans mere playthings that must act according to the will of Zeus? Has Zeus made up his mind and all gods and humans are expected to fall in line?
Right after the first lines declaring Zeus’ will, Apollo “swept a fatal plague through the (Greek) army…because Agamemnon spurned Apollo’s priest.” Did Apollo act upon the will of Zeus or did he respond to the prayers of Chryse? Achilles (half-god), influenced by Hera (Zeus’ jealous wife), then seeks out a holy man to interpret the dreams from Zeus to understand why “Apollo rages so.” The dream sent to Agamemnon is deceptive at best and influences the subsequent course of action. Even dreams, a key source of information from the gods, are not trustworthy.
In the first few pages (and in the first four books), there is a tremendously complex interplay of decisions by humans and actions influenced by the gods. Here are some additional examples:
- Athena both initiates the first shot of the war while simultaneously protecting Menelaus, the shot’s target.
- Achilles implores his mother Thetis (a sea-nymph) to implore Zeus for a returned favor. This in turn upsets Hera (Zeus’ wife) influencing subsequent events.
Let’s consider two ends of a spectrum. One end is where the gods decide everything and the humans simply act as marionettes. The other end is where humans decide everything in a series of interlocking individual decisions without influence from the gods.
What The Iliad portrays is that the course of action is a constantly changing narrative meeting somewhere in a very messy middle of this spectrum. Human agency meets deified direction.
The course of action is not just brought about by human decisions, jealousies, desires, and actions. There is another realm of gods influencing the narrative through decisions, jealousies, desires, and actions. In other words, there are not good gods directing the best course of action. These gods fall prey to the same foibles as humans. They can lie and deceive.
There is a very real human reason for this war. Helen has been kidnapped. There is also a very real divine reason for this war. Apollo is incensed with Agamemnon’s disrespect and stirs the hornet’s nest to kick off a series of events that will culminate in mass death and destruction.
So far, humans have implored the gods through prayer (Chryses praying for his daughter), have sought favor through animal sacrifice, and have sought out the divine will through dreams and seers/interpreters.
The gods have petitioned other gods (Hera to Zeus), sent down dreams and “winged words,” and have inhabited actual people to inspire action.
One key point is that both the Greeks and the Trojans call on the same gods. Although these gods take sides, the Greeks are not imploring one set of gods and the Trojans another. The gods take sides within the same pantheon. There are not separate divine realms influencing two kingdoms. There is one divine realm influencing two kingdoms.
Who directs the course of action in The Iliad? Does the “will of Zeus” reign supreme to the end? We shall have to wait and find out. This messy interplay between the gods and humans is what makes The Iliad so utterly fascinating.
