Interpreting the Actions of th
Interpreting the Actions of thInterpreting the Actions of the Gods
The role of the gods in the Trojan War proved to be a major importance in the
final outcome and the psychological wellbeing of the mortals who fought for
both the Trojan side and the Achaians side. The Greek Gods high, on Olympus
watched the bloody battlefield below with a sense of satisfaction that they
controlled the fate of the battlefield. The Trojan War some could say was
actually a war among the gods as much as it was a war between the Trojans and
the Achaians. The Iliad hardly represents the world as Homer's audience knew
it. Gods are frequently coming down to the battlefield to aid in the fighting
and thus the heroes perform deeds no normal man could ever accomplish. When
reading Homer's Iliad you have to realize that the gods never were really
there but are merely used for an easy explanation to the strange happenings of
war. We can't believe that something in fact happened just because it is noted
in a mythology handbook. The Greek people needed the gods to explain
mysterious occurrences that occurred within their everyday lives so that these
strange happenings made sense to them. The role of the gods needs to be
interpreted as well as the various myths that surround the great Greek epic
poem The Iliad by Homer.
One instance when the gods were used to explain a strange and unusual thing
was towards the beginning of the book. When King Agamemnon didn't give up his
wife, a priestess of Apollo, the god became angry and did this to the Achaian
people "First he attacked the mules and dogs, then he shot his keen arrows at
the men and hit each mark. Pyres of the dead began to burn up everywhere and
never ceased" (p12) This to me sounds like a disease that suddenly infected
the Achaian army. Diseases usually start with animals, as that disease
evolves, it is able to attack and infect humans. This is what commonly happens
in Asia with people sharing living space with their animals both for heat and
there simply isn't enough space for them to be anywhere else. This could have
been how the Achaian war camp was set up, with animals living in close
quarters with their masters and a poor sewage system to go along with it. Now
all of this would have been quite surprising with men and animals suddenly
dying along the beach with out any warning. The Achaian people also arrived in
a new region and they, much like our Native Americans, couldn't have coped
with the diseases. Another possibility that could have occurred is that a
swarm of meteor showers struck the camp. Those meteors would have appeared as
if they were shot down from the heavens by some angry god. If all of this
didn't happen, their men suddenly dying, King Agamemnon would have sensed that
nothing was wrong and thus wouldn't have been informed to give up his wife. If
Agamemnon didn't give up his wife Achilles would still have his and most of
this story would have never taken place, if it did at all.
The Greeks also used the gods to explain why people do strange things that
would be better if they had not done them at all. A prime example of this is
when Odysseus swayed everybody back to fighting when they were all about to go
home to their wives and children, back away from the hells of war. Homer
explains why Odysseus continued the war by bringing the goddess Athena into
the picture.
"Odysseus Laertiades, can you do nothing now, my Prince? Is this to be the
end? Will they tumble aboard and go sailing home? Will they leave their boast
to Priam and his people? Will they their own Argive Helen, after so many men
have died in foreign land to get her back? Don't stand idle here! Go among
your men, speak to each fellow in your kindly way and keep them from launching
their ships!" p26
Odysseus loved battle; in fact he probably loved battle more than his homeland
and his wife combined. Now if all the Greeks stayed and fought they wouldn't
want to think that it was because of a war crazed madman, they would want to
think that they stayed and fought for Helen and for the revenge of their lost
friends. Some people knew that he was man who loved war over anything else by
actually placing one of the heroes of the Trojan War in hell and portrayed him
as a bad person. There has always been people like this, but if your Greek you
want to think that your culture is superior to others. With men like Odysseus
you see your culture as flawed, a culture which places war above family and
love. The Greeks simply couldn't have this and in order to explain such men
they used gods. Another example of war crazed men who prolonged the battles
and stayed away from home is when Pandaros shot Menelaos during a time of
peace. The Trojans and Achains were getting along and the war was almost over
when Athena came down and persuaded Pandaros to break the truce.
"Will you take my advice and show your good skill? Then dare to have a quick
shot at Menelaos! This will give you great credit, and all the Trojans will
thank you, most of all Prince Alexandros. He will be the first to heap rewards
upon you, if he seed that mighty man of war King Menelaos, brought down by
your arrow and laid out on a funeral pyre." p49
Just another example of how the Greek culture made up gods so they didn't have
to live with the fact that they had men whom favored battle over family.
There are some men who think that they are so good at killing people that if
they somehow mess up and miss they don't blame it on themselves, they blame it
on the gods. " O Father Zeus, such an unkind god as you there never was! You
do spoil everything! I did think I had paid out that scoundrel, and here is my
sword broken in my hand, and my spear missed and never touched him." (p46)
This is yet another example of how people and societies want to be perfect
without flaw. By simply making a mistake people blame it on the gods. This
still happens in today's society especially in sports. When a team loses they
say, "god just wasn't with us today and we weren't suppose to win today." We
all blame god when a bad thing happens or we screw up bad, in fact blaming god
is a common thing to make us feel like it wasn't our fault. The phrase "God
dammit" is an extremely common phrase that we hear almost everyday of our
lives. So the ancient Greek warriors, when they mess up and not kill somebody
blame god just as we do in today's society.
Gods are also used to make the characters feel better about themselves and
what going on in the world around them. They do this by praying. Achilles
prayed to his mother when Agamemnon took his wife away in replace of his, "Oh
my mother I was born to die young, it is true, but honor I was to have from
Zeus Olympian, Thunder on high! And now he has not given me one little bit!
Yes, my lord King Agamemnon has insulted me! He has taken my prize and keeps
it, he has robbed me himself." (p17)
If there were no gods to pray to Achilles would have had to hold his anger
inside of himself. Over time the anger would have either killed him or he
would have had to kill Agamemnon. So for once the gods were good at doing on
thing. Yet another hero who prayers is Diomedes. He prays to the goddess
Athena for revenge on the man who shot him. "Hear me, O daughter of Zeus
Almighty, Atrytone! If thou didst ever stand by my father' side in friendship
on the battlefield, now again show thy love to me Athena! Grant me to come
within spear-cast of that man, and to slay that man�" (p60) This is a
different kind of Prayer than what Achilles had said, this one wasn't for
getting anger out but was for hope that he would kill the person who harmed
him. The Greek gods were there to comfort people in times of need and thus
saving them and giving people someone to put the blame on, besides themselves
or family members.
The gods were placed by the Greeks onto the world to explain things and make
people feel better about themselves and their culture. Gods were used in every
major culture to explain and help understand the strangeness that the world
they live in is composed of. In our present day society people still believe
in God. Today God does what the Ancient gods of Greece did thousands of years
ago, comfort and protect you mentally. If you have a problem with doing
extremely horrible things you can blame the counterpart of god the devil. With
blaming the devil you are taking the blame off of yourself and are saying that
maybe I can be treated and the devil will be removed from my mind. Without
that you may kill yourself when treatment is just around the corner. Football
teams pray to god before a game so that they could win. That is not much
unlike what the Achains and the Trojans did before they went into battle. Gods
may not be real but they do make us feel better about each other and ourselves
in both today's and yesterdays world.