Quote 1
(Zeus:)
Ah me, that it is destined that the dearest of men, Sarpedon,
must go down under the hands of Menoitios' son Patroklos.
The heart in my breast is balanced between two ways as I ponder,
whether I should snatch him out of the sorrowful battle
and set him down still alive in the rich country of Lykia,
or beat him under at the hands of the son of Menoitios. (16.433-438)
To us, this might sound contradictory. Zeus is pondering whether he should save Sarpedon from death, even though that would go against his destiny. Can the gods defy fate? In fact they can – and so can mortals, sometimes (see the quote from Book 20, below). If you read Hera's reply, which comes immediately after this passage, you will see that Zeus doesn't back down because he has to, but rather because it would be inappropriate to save Sarpedon.
Quote 2
(Zeus:)
For if we leave Achilleus alone to fight with the Trojans
they will not even for a little hold off swift-footed Peleion.
For even before now they would tremble whenever they saw him,
and now, when his heart is grieved and angered for his companion's
death, I fear against destiny he may storm their fortress. (20.26-30)
Is it reasonable for Zeus to fear that Achilleus might act against his own destiny? Do you think the rest of the Iliad supports or contradicts this view of human freedom? If it contradicts it, does Zeus know something the rest of us don't know? Or is there just something special about Achilleus?
Quote 3
(Zeus:)
Come then! After once more the flowing-haired Achaians
are gone back with their ships to the beloved land of their fathers,
break their wall to pieces and scatter it into the salt sea
and pile again the beach deep under the sands and cover it;
so let the great wall of the Achaians go down to destruction. (7.459-463)
For thousands of years, one of humanity's surefire ways of trying to escape mortality has been to build lasting monuments as a way of preserving their memory for future generations. True, the Achaians built their wall more out of immediate necessity, but it would probably still make them mad to know how easily it got leveled. That said, the fact that we even know about this wall shows the power of the spoken and written word to outlast physical remains – Poseidon wasn't able to destroy the work of Homer! For an exploration of this power of language, check out Sonnets 55 and 65 by William Shakespeare.
(Zeus:)
''Hera, there will be a time afterwards when you can go there
as well. But now let us go to bed and turn to love-making.
For never before has love for any goddess or woman
so melted about the heart inside me, broken it to submission,
as now […]." (14.313-317)
Alright, it's true that this is probably more in the "sex" category than "love" as such, but let's just take Zeus at his word. What is significant about this moment is that it shows the power of emotions – whether they be anger, pride, or love – to completely take possession of a person. Can you think of other moments in the Iliad where this theme appears?
Quote 5
(Zeus:)
"Ah me, that it is destined that the dearest of men, Sarpedon,
must go down under the hands of Menoitios' son Patroklos.
The heart in my breast is balanced between two ways as I ponder,
whether I should snatch him out of the sorrowful battle
and set him down still alive in the rich country of Lykia,
or beat him under at the hands of the son of Menoitios." (16.433-438)
Many of the gods have children fighting for either the Achaians or the Trojans. In this case, Zeus's love for his son Sarpedon is so strong that he considers acting against fate to save him.
Quote 6
(Athene:)
I have taken away the mist from your eyes, that before now
was there, so that you may well recognize the god and the mortal.
Therefore now, if a god making trial of you comes hither
do you not do battle head on with the gods immortal,
not with the rest; but only if Aphrodite, Zeus' daughter,
comes to the fighting, her at least you may stab with the sharp bronze. (5.127-132)
This quote reveals just how strange the Ancient Greek understanding of the gods was. Just when you expect Athene to have taken the mist off Diomedes's eyes so that he doesn't fight with any gods, it turns out that he's only supposed to fight one of them: Aphrodite. What does the fact that Diomedes fights with gods and gets away with it say about Achilleus's claim to be the best of the Achaians?
Quote 7
(Poseidon:)
Father Zeus, is there any mortal left on the wide earth
who will still declare to the immortals his mind and his purpose?
Do you not see how now these flowing-haired Achaians
have built a wall landward of their ships, and driven about it
a ditch, and not given to the gods any grand sacrifice?
Now the fame of this will last as long as dawnlight is scattered,
and men will forget that wall which I and Phoibos Apollo
built with our hard work for the hero Laomedon's city. (7.446-453)
Bad things happen when humans try to build things without the gods' permission. Or is Poseidon more angry because he thinks the wall will have a kind of immortality? Talk about a fragile ego.
(Zeus:)
Hera, be not utterly angry with the gods, for there shall not
be the same pride of place given both. Yet Hektor also
was loved by the gods, best of all the mortals in Ilion.
I loved him too. He never failed of gifts to my liking.
Never yet has my altar gone without fair sacrifice,
the smoke and the savour of it, since that is our portion of honour. (24.65-70)
Unlike Teukros, Hektor always remembered his manners in dealing with gods. Even if they cannot save him from his fate, they still keep looking out for him.