Why Do The Gods Have Free Will In The Iliad

From reading the Iliad, I have inferred that though the gods can affect the course on humans’ lives, they cannot go against fate when it claims a life or many lives. The gods hold great power over humans and influence many of their actions, causing us to question if the humans in Homer’s story have free will or not. The power with which gods have over humans can be seen in the cases of Zeus helping Achilles get the praise and honor he desires through literally tipping the scales in favor of the Trojans in book 8 and starting off the war in book 2. We also see it when Athena convinces Panderos to shoot an arrow at Menalaus, a stupid move on part of the human but a strategic move of the gods the get the ball of war rolling (book 4). Though the gods could be said to influence humans, the best word to describe their actions is interfering. Aphrodite goes against odds to remove Alexandros from death in his fight with Menalaus, affecting the war undoubtedly from the possibility of ending sooner. With this interference, I’d suggest that the fates give many paths to how an event, or life, can be told, but then one cannot escape the ending they have chosen for themselves. The gods use their divinity to influence what path stories take, and this whole book basically is the story of Achilles asking the gods to give him what he wants, resulting in a path …show more content…
In this we see the death of Patroclos, Sarpedon, Hector, and many more through the choice of Achilles to have the gods be involved and Zeus not only trying to help Achilles, but also the other gods helping their favorite side. Again, the gods have great ability to interfere and influence the life of humans, but they cannot change the destiny of those already laid out or defy the Fates through choosing a path and then trying to rescue who they want from it without some