Fate In The Iliad Essay

Homers “Iliad is a war poem thoroughly permeated with religious elements, from sacred institutions to divinely decreed fate to heightened experiences of battle figured as divine engagements.”(Kitts 231). The Iliad has been historically remembered over past centuries and has influenced the religious viewpoints of many. It’s important to know “that Homer was aware of past religious tradition and secondly that the majority of the members of his Olympian family possessed familiar cult names.”(Dietrich 137). This shows that ideas within the Iliad are greatly tied to beliefs of religion, beliefs that were passed down between centuries. Now “[f]rom an internal perspective, the Iliad is overwhelmingly religious. It is constructed around institutions supported by gods, the actions, personalities, and

constraints on these gods, and the restrictions on human autonomy imposed by divinely authorized fate.” (Kitts 226). Fate is a word that has great association when one speaks of the Iliad.

The fate several mortals face within the Iliad comes from the decision of the gods of Olympus. The final decision of many mortals always lies with Zeus. Even though discussions take place with all the gods deciding the outcomes of mortal’s lives, Zeus must always have the final say. It’s greatly seen throughout the Iliad that the “the constraints of fate and the unsurpassable will of Zeus pervade nearly every critical juncture of the action.” (Kitts 227). We see Zeus as a powerful immortal being in the Iliad when the god Hephaestus begs his mother Lady Hera not to further anger Zeus. Hephaestus explains to his mother that “[t]he Olympian can be rough. Once before when I tried to rescue you [h]e flipped me by foot off our balcony. I fell all day and came down when the sun did [o]n the island of Lemnos scarcely alive.” (Iliad, I, 619-625). Through this unimaginable power, Zeus is able to have control over all mortals and install fear into his fellow immortals. It has been demonstrated through the Iliad that the powerful Zeus and his immortals corrupt the notion of human free will and turn it into an

illusion.
Throughout the Iliad we see instances were different characters speak on their beliefs about the gods. It was believed by many to always put your trust in the gods. The belief that the gods were always watching and circumstances that became present in ones life were not coincidences. In the beginning of the war poem, the brutish Agamemnon is upset because he continues to lose men in his army due to an ongoing plague that has stunned the Greek camp. He himself is stunned and angrily seeks the result to why the plague remains. Achilles, the greatest fighter known within Greek tales, tells Agamemnon that he needs a new solution to find the answer he desires. Achilles asks him “[b]ut why not consult some prophet or priest [o]r a dream interpreter, since dreams too come from Zeus, [w]ho could tell us why Apollo is so angry, [i]f it’s for a vow or a sacrifice he holds us at fault. Maybe he’d be willing to lift this plague from us.” (Iliad, I, 70-74). Achilles displays to Agamemnon his faith towards the gods and the belief in their will. But Achilles strong religious belief towards the gods is not only shown the Iliad. Many Greeks throughout ancient history have religiously believed in the gods being able to change unpredictable outcomes. For example, the practice of religious sacrificing has been witnessed and heard of by many who haven’t read the Iliad. In ancient Greek history “[t]he institutions supported by gods typically include marked speech acts (prayers, curses, invocations of Muses) and deeply rooted cultural conventions such as hospitality, honor for suppliants, sacrifice, and oath-making, all of which stem directly or indirectly from the oikos.” (Kitts 226). Its also crucial to know that “dramatists borrowed their plots from the historic legends of the great families of Greece, which were rich in tragic implications. But these stories, going back to early times, were dyed dark with an unquestioning faith in control of human affairs by ineluctable fate or capricious god, who played with men as they would, and whose purpose one could neither understand nor justify. This is the framework on which the fifth-century writes constructed their plots; supernatural intervention and control belonged in the stories and were not expurgated in the new versions.” (Agard 118-119).
Throughout the Iliad and the history of ancient Greece, the gods of Olympus have been portrayed as superior and very powerful figures. The superiority of the gods in comparison to mortals can be examined by two different angles. Achilles explains that Zeus is able to choose the amount of positive and negative events in ones life. “Two jars [s]it at the doorstep of Zeus, filled with gifts [t]hat he gives, one full of good things, [t]the other evil. If Zeus gives a man [a] mixture from both jars, sometimes [l]ife is good for him, sometimes not. But if all he gives you is from the jar of woe, [y]ou become a pariah, and hunger drives you [o]ver the brightest earth, dishonored by gods and men. Now take Peleus. The gods gave him [a]n immortal goddess to be his wife. But even to Peleus the god gave some evil: He would not leave offspring to succeed him in power” (Iliad, XXIV, 566-581). Achilles displays the reality of how good and bad events occur in ones life. Explaining that our fate only stems from what the gods want it to be. But the gods are also able to end a mortal’s life if they feel necessary. But it would be impossible for a mortal to ever threaten an immortals life. We see this attempt in the Iliad when Achilles tried to kill the god Apollo. Achilles has traveled to Troy to avenge the death of his best friend and furiously tries to put Apollo to an end. Apollo thinks Achilles attempt is absurd and says “[s]on of Peleus, you’re fast on your feet [b]ut you’ll never catch me, man chasing god, [o]r are you too raging mad to notice I’m a god? Don’t you care about fighting The Trojans anymore? You’ve chased them back [i]nto their town, but now you’ve veered off here. You’ll never kill me. You don’t hold my doom.” (Iliad, XXII, 11-17). Apollo points at the fact that Achilles does not hold his ‘doom’. Showing his superiority in terms of the physical abilities between immortal and man, but also knowledge of the mortal world.
An important aspect of the Iliad is the severity of outcomes of certain events that stem from the relationships between immortals, or the relationships between immortals and mortals. We see this when Achilles is filled with sorrow after Agamemnon has told him he will take his prize girl away from him. Achilles previously agreed with one of the gods not to harm Agamemnon physically, but only verbally. When finished severely insulting Agamemnon, Achilles heart is still in pain and he tells his immortal mother what happened. His mother is saddened to hear his story, and has agreed with him that she will inform Zeus of his tragedy. Achilles tell his mother to “[g]o to Olympus [a]nd call in the debt that Zeus owes [her]. I remember often hearing you tell [i]n my father’s house how you alone managed, [o]f all immortals, to save Zeus’ neck [w]hen the other Olympians wanted to bind him-Hera and Poseidon and Pallas Athena. And you lured to Olympus’ summit the giant [w]ith a hundred hands whom the gods call Briareus but men call Aegaeon, strong [e]ven than his own father Uranus, and he [s]at hulking in front of cloud-black Zeus, [p]roud of his prowess, and scared all the gods [w]ho were tryng to put the son of Cronus in chains. Remind Zeus of this, sit holding his knees, [s]ee if he is willing to help the Trojans” (Iliad, I, 409-425). In the end Zeus grants the upper hand to the Trojans, but causes an even greater tragedy for Achilles by doing so. While Achilles sits out of the war between the Greeks and Trojans, his best friend Patroclus dies from battle. Showing that the “the gods in their vast superiority [can] carelessly [engage] in actions which on the human scale would and did have disastrous effects.” (Dietrich 136). It becomes common to see in the Iliad that immortals grant their powers to help others associated with them. The issue is that immortals can be too powerful and can greatly affect the circumstances of the mortal world too much. We see this during the introduction of the Iliad when Apollo’s priest Chryses arrives at the Greek beachhead camp to ransom his daughter from Agamemnon. Agamemnon refuses to give her back and scares Chryses away from the Greek camp. “And when he had gone some distance the priest [p]rayed to Lord Apollo, son of silken-haired Leto: “Hear me, Silverbow, Protector of Chryse, Lord of Holy Cilia, Master of Tenedos, And Sminthian God of Plague! If ever I’ve built a temple that pleased you [o]r burnt fat thighbones of bulls and goats- Grant me this prayer: Let the Danaans pay for my tears with your arrows! Apollo heard his prayer and descended Olympus’ crags [p]ulsing with fury, bow slung over one shoulder, [t]he arrows rattling in their cases on his back [a]s the angry god moved like night down the mountain.” (Iliad, I, 45-55).
In conclusion “[t]he Iliad is a war poem thoroughly permeated with religious elements, from sacred institutions to divinely decreed fate to heightened experiences of battle figured as divine engagements.” (Kitts 231). The poem displays the mortals exist within an illusion of free will. These divine beings have been known since ancient Greek history to construct the events within all mortal’s lives. They have acted as religious symbols to many, and fate has strongly been believed to come from their grasps. It’s good to know “these epic gods were not merely literary figures of myth but divine powers which inspired faith.”(Dietrich 151). “[T]he gods and fate must have resonated with ancient audiences and borne some similarities to notions they entertained in their own lives. Otherwise the audience would have seen the poetic action, with gods intervening in every aspect of it, as simply comic.” (Kitts 227).