has both heaven and earth against him, yet he displays greater heroic qualities than any of the heroes with divine patronage. Both of these men show greater heroic qualites when the Gods are not helping, and that it an important point. Contrasting this is Achilles and Paris. Neither one of them show true heroic qualities, and only succeed when the Gods interfeer. The Gods made them heroes, because they could not do it themselves. From all this, it can be stated the Gods can make heroes, or make true heroes even greater. When the Gods interact with heroes, it is often in the form of protection. The patron God will defend his hero and protect him from harm. There are many instances in which the hero is loosing a battle and the God removes the hero from danger. One of the best examples of this is in book 3 of the Iliad, in which Meneleaus and Paris duel for Helen. Paris is defeated by Meneleaus and faces death by his rivals sword. Before Meneleaus can achieve victory Aphodite, who appears as a fog, lifts Paris from the field of battle and moves him to safety Aphrodite snatched Paris away, easy work for a god, wrapped him in swirls of myst, and set him down in his bedroom full of scent (Iliad, book 3, 439-441). Although Paris did not deserve saving, he is protected not because he is a true hero, but because the goddess was on his side. Another important example is the duel between Aneas and Achilles in book 20 of the Iliad. In this duel Achilles comes close to slaughtering Aeneas, who had boasted that he was favored by the gods. When the battle turned against him, the sea god Poseidon blind Achilles with mist and removes Aeneas from the field of battle. Again, the favorite of the gods is saved. The examples where a hero is saved in a battle is no where nearly as common as when one of the heroes dies as the result of divine intervention. While the god never kills any of the heroes physically, the god does decide who will win, and who will di...
