The Iliad

The gods get eternity; men get significance.

Troy has better people and worse patrons. That's the poem's tragic arithmetic in miniature

Cheat Sheet

Against Troy:

  • Hera — the fiercest; snubbed in the Judgment. Would eat Priam raw (Zeus says nearly this in Book 4).
  • Athena — the other loser of the apple. Hands-on: she engineered Pandarus's truce-shot and will do worse later.
  • Poseidon — separate grudge: he built Troy's walls for King Laomedon (Priam's father), who then stiffed him on the wages. Troy has a history of contract fraud with gods.
  • Hephaestus, Hermes — mildly Greek-side; minor roles.
  • Thetis — special case: not anti-Troy, purely pro-Achilles.

For Troy:

  • Aphrodite — won the apple; protects Paris (and her mortal son Aeneas, a Trojan prince).
  • Apollo — Troy's great protector, patron of the city. Book 1's plague was him defending his priest. He'll matter enormously late in the poem.
  • Ares — nominally pro-Trojan, but really pro-carnage; fights wherever the blood is.
  • Artemis, Leto — with Apollo; minor.
  • Xanthus/Scamander — Troy's own river god; you'll meet him spectacularly in Book 21.

The house:

  • Zeus — officially neutral, personally fond of Troy ("dearest of cities to me"), currently rigging the war for the Greeks to lose — but only temporarily, as a favor to Thetis, and knowing Troy is doomed anyway

. He's not a partisan; he's fate's executor with private regrets.