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 nd 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 oem 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 ould 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 s 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 hey 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 ay, “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 rayed 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 aving 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 xtremely 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.
