The Iliad

Divine Intervention is a “direct and obvious intervention by a god or goddess in the affairs of humans”. In various myths such as the Iliad, the Epic of Gilgamesh, and Herakles, divine intervention was called upon in order to restrain a hero’s destructive or too powerful forces. Although the divine intervention was used to impair different heroes, the purpose to constrain was the same in all the narratives.

Homer’s The Iliad: Book XX features a battle between the Trojans and Achaians, shortly after Patroklus’ death (Lattimore Book XVI), where the gods must intervene in order to restrain Achilleus’ destructive nature that becomes amplified due to the grief and wrath as a result of the loss of his cousin/lover. The divine foresaw an early fall of Troy caused by the intensified destructive nature of Achilleus, therefore they interfered in the battle to protect a bigger ideal of fate, a fate of a nation, by manipulating smaller ideals of fate, the fates of people’s lives(Lattimore 405). At the beginning of the battle, after the gods descended from Olympus, they decide to sit and just watch how their mortal teams will fend for themselves until Apollo takes form as Lykoan and coerce Aeneias to challenge Achilleus, thus establishing the first act of divine intervention (Lattimore 406-407). When Achilleus is inches away from killing Aeneias, Poseidon takes sympathy upon him and whisks him off to safety (Lattimore 407-411). The last interference occurs during the confrontation between Hektor and Achilleus, where Achilleus is about to murder him and Apollo saves Hektor (Lattimore 416). Hektor’s rescue in this battle is an important event in the Iliad because Achilleus’ and Hektor’s fates are interrelated, further meaning that if Hektor die...

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...uring the 8th century BC and Herakles is the most present, dating at early 5th century BC. Observing these myths, it can be concluded that the gods’ involvement in these stories decrease and become less active as they near present times. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, the furthest from present time, the divine intervention was evenly distributed, bringing up various gods, and found in the beginning, middle, and the end of the Sumerian epic. The Iliad, although the gods were active in the Book XX, didn’t have much previous activity throughout the Iliad because Zeus had banned divine interference (Lattimore 404). Herakles represented a very active Hera doing everything possible to hinder Herakles’ efforts, but it was mainly focused on her. Even though the gods and goddesses helped Herakles accomplish his labors, Hera’s role was the focal point of the divine intervention.