Divine Intervention

Page 1

Divine intervention

Trojans’ side – Apollo, Aphrodite

Achaians’ side – Hera, Athena, Poseidon

Indifferent – Zeus, Hermes

Book 1

v

Apollo sends a plague upon Chryses request.

v

Thetis works against the Achaians on request of

her son, Achilles.

Book 3

v

As Paris and Menelaos

prepare for combat, the goddess Iris, disguised as Hector’s sister Laodice,

visits Helen in Priam’s palace. Iris urges Helen to go to the city gates and

witness the battle about to be fought over her.

v

Aphrodite saves Paris twice;

Ø

She snaps the strap of the

helmet so that it breaks off in Menelaos’s hands so he can not drag Paris

around by the helmet anymore.

Ø

She whisks Paris away

to his room in Priam’s palace before Menelaos can stab him.

Book 4

v

Athena disguises

herself as a Trojan soldier and convinces the archer Pandaros to take aim at

Menelaos in order to restart the fighting.

v

Athena deflects the

arrow so that it only wounds Menelaos but does not kill him.

v

The gods are involved

in the battle.

Ø

Athena helps the Achaians.

Ø

Apollo helps the

Trojans.

Book 6

Book 9

Book 11

v

Zeus sends a message to Hektor via Iris saying

that they should fight defensively while Agamemnon is at large.

Book 16

v

Achilles prays to Zeus

that Patroklos may return with both himself and the ships unharmed.

Ø

The poet reveals,

however, that Zeus will grant only one of these prayers.

v

Zeus decides to kill

Patroklos for slaying his son, Sarpedon whom he considered saving but decided

against it as it would encourage all the gods to save their mortal children.

v

Zeus imbues Hector

with a temporary cowardice so Hector leads the retreat. This causes Patroclus

to disobey Achilles and pursue the Trojans all the way to the gates of Troy.

v

Apollo intervened and

drove Patroklos back from the gates.

v

Apollo persuaded

Hektor to charge Patroklos but then Patroklos killed Hektor’s charioteer.

v

Apollo strikes Patroklos between the

shoulders, knocks off his helmet, shatters his spear, detaches his shield and

pries off his breastplate.

Book 18

v

Hera tells Achilles to make an appearance in the

battle to scare the Trojans without hurting himself as he has no armour yet.

Book 19

v

Zeus finds Achilles

and Briseis’s morning emotionally moving and sends Athena down to fill

Achilles’ stomach with nectar and ambrosia, keeping his hunger at bay.

Book 22

v

Zeus considers saving

Hector, but Athena persuades him that the mortal’s time has come.

v

Zeus places Hector’s

and Achilles’ respective fates on a golden scale and Hector’s sinks to the

ground.

v

Athena

deludes Hektor into believing that he will have assistance against Achilles by

disguising herself as his brother, Deiphobos.

Book 23

v

Aphrodite guarded Hektor's corpse from wild

animals and anointed him with immortal oil of roses.

v

Apollo drew a cloud over it to protect it from

the harmful rays of the sun.

v

Iris brings the winds the message and the fire

starts to burn.

Ø

Achilles had prayed to the North and West winds

to act as bellows as Patroklos’ pyre was not ablaze.

v

During the chariot race, Apollo knocked the whip

out of Diomedes’ hands.

v

After this, Athene returned the whip to Diomedes

and put strength in his horses.

v

During the chariot race, Athene also smashed the

yoke of Eumelos’ chariot which caused his horses to run off the road and sent

him tumbling out of the chariot which injured him.

v

During the foot-race, Athene made Odysseus’

limbs light as he had prayed to her to give him speed.

Ø

She also caused Aias to fall into dung which

filled his mouth and nostrils.

v

During the archery competition, Apollo makes

Meriones’ arrow hit the dove

Ø

Meriones vowed to make a sacrifice of first-born

lambs to Apollo if he helped him

Book 24

v

Apollo protects

Hector’s corpse from damage.

v

The gods

order Thetis to explain to her son, Achilles, that it is the will of Zeus that

he returns Hektor's body to Priam, Hektor's father.