sessive of the body and attempt to put up a fuss as he did before with Agamemnon in Book I (Beye 119). Instead, Achilles showed humility and respect for the gods and immediately agreed to ransom the body to the Trojans, showing that all mortals, even god-like Achilles, were answerable to the gods. This “ideology” (Avery 124) would seem to give the gods a sort of unlimited freedom on earth; although, the gods could not always do as they pleased and eventually had to come before Zeus. Zeus acted as a balance of sorts throughout the Iliad. He had to keep the gods in order and make sure that what fate dictated would happen. For example, after Achilles re-enters the battle Zeus declared that if Achilles was allowed to go on slaughtering the Trojans with nothing to slow him down, he would take Troy before fate said it would happen (Griffin 147). Therefore, to counter Achilles massive retaliation against the Trojans, Zeus allowed the gods to go back to the battlefield.In Zeus's own interests, he preferred to deal with issues more personal to the individual heroes of the Iliad (Griffin 164). This can be seen throughout the book as Zeus attempted to increase the honor of certain individuals. Zeus knew that Hector was going to be killed by Achilles, and, feeling sorry for Hector, Zeus attempted to allow Hector to die an honorable death. For instance, when Hector stripped the armor of Achilles off Patroklos, Zeus helped Hector "fill out" the armor so he would not seem like less of a man then Achilles. Zeus also gave his word to Thetis that Achilles would gain much glory showing his involvement on a personal level.Nelson 4Homer used the gods and their actions to establish “twists” (Griffin 187) on the plot of the war. It would not have been possible for him to write the story without the divine interventions of the gods. Indeed, they effected every aspect the poem in some way, shape or form. Yet, from the immortal...
