The Relationships of the Gods in Book I of the Iliad

The Greek gods play an important role in the Iliad not just as impersonal forces but as individual characters. As such, they can show kindness, cruelty, love, and a range of other behaviors in their relationships which provide insight into their personalities. These relationships shape how the gods interact in the war and why they choose the actions that they do. In Book I of the Iliad, two examples of this are Zeus and Hera’s marriage and Thetis’s mothering of Achilles. Although the gods possess superhuman power, their traits are remarkably human. The relationships that the gods and goddesses have with humans and among themselves resemble human relationships.

From the beginning, Hera and Zeus’s toxic, abusive relationship is established as a continuing theme and a driving force behind the gods’ intervention in the war. When Zeus is approached by Thetis, who wants the Achaeans to suffer for spurning Achilles, in response “Filled with anger Zeus who marshals the storm clouds answered her at last:/’Disaster. You will drive me into war with Hera’” (I.628-9). From just these two lines, it is clear that Zeus is unhappy about agreeing to this thing that will make Hera angry, not because he cares about her wishes, but because he knows it will be aggravating and troublesome. Zeus’s defining character trait in his marriage is his selfishness. He knows what will make Hera angry, but he does not consider her feelings to be important.

Their disagreements about strategy go deeper than Hera’s preference for the Argives and Zeus’s promise to Thetis. Their relationship is problematic at its core. When Hera tries to voice an opposing opinion, he brutally threatens her: “Now go sit down. Be quiet now. Obey my orders,/for fear the gods, however many Olympus holds,/ are powerless to protect you when I come/to throttle you with my irresistible hands” (I.680-3). To understand Hera’s terrified reaction, one must understand that this is no empty threat. Zeus has abused and will continue to abuse various gods and goddesses. His cruel and domineering behavior characterizes most of his marriage, and he does not fail to remind Hera who rules over Olympus. This goes hand in hand with his misogynistic view of marriage; he commands Hera to obey him quietly, believing that her role is to be a meek, submissive wife despite her title as Queen of the gods.

Although the gods’ relationships are often messy and dysfunctional, Thetis’s love for her son Achilles provides an example of a mother’s love and care for her child. Thetis hears her son when he is in distress and immediately comes to comfort him:

“So he wept and prayed and his noble mother heard him, seated near her father,

the Old Man of the Sea in the salt green depths.

Suddenly up she rose from the churning surf

like mist and settling down beside him as he wept,

stroked Achilles gently, whispering his name, ‘My child –

why in tears? What sorrow has touched your heart?

Tell me, please. Don't harbor it deep inside you.

We must share it all’” (I.423-9).

In contrast to Zeus’s disrespect for Hera’s feelings, Thetis asks Achilles why he is sorrowful in the hopes of sharing his grief. Her comment that “we must share it all” almost seems to bring gods and humans together in their need of a helping hand in times of suffering. She does not distance herself from the emotions of others, but she watches over her son and is willing and available to discuss his life and grief.

Thetis’s interactions with Achilles closely resembles that of a human mother. When Achilles tells her about Agamemnon’s lack of respect, in response “Thetis answered, bursting into tears,/‘O my son, my sorrow, why did I ever bear you?’” (I.491-2). Like many anxious human mothers, she perhaps overreacts a bit, putting the blame of Achilles’s grief on herself for giving birth to him yet being unable to protect him from this. Drawing on what is known from mythology as well recalls that Thetis was forced to marry a mortal so that her son, who was prophesied to surpass his father, would not be a threat to the Olympian gods. She made Achilles mostly invulnerable by dipping him in the River Styx, but she could not make him immortal or raise him among the gods. Her frequent attempts to save her son from death and suffering, two things that she does not experience as a goddess, are driven by feelings comparable to those of human mothers. Thetis’s relationship with her son is driven by the desire to lessen the pain of his mortality.

The Greek gods are strongly influenced by human understanding of emotions and behavior. Rather than transcending less dignified mortal feelings and being portrayed as aloof or unbiased, they instead are characters similar to the humans in the Iliad. Although the gods have immense power and thus the ability to tip the scales of war one way or another, they are not cold and unbiased as might be expected. Their immortality seems to have increased the scale of their humanlike emotions. They are passionate beings, each with their own reasons for participating in the war in the way that they do.

Resources

Homer. The Iliad. Translated by Robert Fagles. New York: Penguin Books, 1998.