Guanyue Rao

Mythology of Ancient Greece

The Role of Gods in the Iliad and Troy (2004)
People can tell different stories about the same event based on their perspectives. In the
Iliad, so many gods had their hand on the Trojan War. Apollo punished the Greek for their
disrespect toward his priests. Aphrodite helped Paris during his combat against Menelaus. Many
other gods also gave their power to heroes to help them fight the battle. The movie Troy, as a
modern interpretation of the Iliad, tried to remove gods influences from the Trojan War, so gods
didnt physically appear in the whole movie. The Iliad and Troy told the same story from
different perspectives, and the major difference was the appearances of gods.
The gods played a big role in the Iliad when Agamemnon took Briseis away from
Achilles. First, two women were captured by Greek army in the Trojan War, Chryseis and
Briseis. Agamemnon took Chryseis and Achilles took Briseis. Apollo wants Chryseis back, so he
launched a plague in the Greek army. Agamemnon had to give Chryseis back to Apollo in order
to save his army. He then took Briseis from Achilles and claimed her as his prize. This drove
Achilles mad as he almost tried to kill Agamemnon. But Athena appeared and clamed Achilles
for the while. Achilles rage from this became the main plot of the book.
The movie Troy, on the other hand, completely eliminated the existence of gods in this
event. Chryseis never existed in the first place. Agamemnon took Briseis from Achilles simply
because of his own pride wanted him to show superiority over Achilles. And Achilles was
calmed by Briseis herself rather than Athena.

Personally, I prefer the movie version of this story. Because I can see the reason behind
the story as Agamemnon being a jealous leader and desiring to prove his superiority over
Achilles. In the Iliad, I cant fully understand the connection between Agamemnon gave
Chryseis back to Apollo and he took Briseis from Achilles.
Aphrodite helped the heroes on the Trojan side. During the dual between Paris and
Menelaus, Paris didnt stand a chance. Menelaus grabbed Paris by the helmet and dragged him
around the field. Aphrodite broke the strap of Paris helmet and teleported him back into the city.
In the movie, Paris lost against Menelaus as well, so he begged Hector for his help.
Hector couldnt control himself when Menelaus tried to stab his brother in front of him, so he
grabbed the sward and killed Menelaus.
I like the movie version of this story better. Since it showed the love between Hector and
Paris. This made Hector a more relatable hero and made me more upset when I saw Hector died
to Achilles. This also triggers the bravery for Paris and made him a better solider at the end of the
movie. The Iliad described that Aphrodite saved Paris and ruined a fair dual. And it was not for a
specific reason. This showed that gods did things based on their own will and not care about
humans wishes.
In Homers the Iliad, there were many cases where gods lent their powers to heroes to
fight their battles. Athena gave her power to Diomedes so that he could see the gods. This made
him stronger in the battlefield and he could later hurt Ares with this power given by Athena.
Poseidon also gave his power to soldiers while Zeus wasnt watching, which drove Zeus mad.

In the movie Troy, gods didnt help at the battle at all. In fact, the heroes wasnt
emphasized as much as in the Iliad. This might due to the length of the movie that director had to
focus more on the main storyline and ignore some minor plots. Just like they made the Trojan
War lasted only several days, while the Iliad clearly stated that the battle was fought for over 10
years.
For these events, I prefer the Iliad version. Because the idea that gods gave their power to
humans and made them capable to perform supernatural behaviors interested me. If there were to
be another movie about the Trojan War, I would definitely like to see some huge visual effects
during the battle.
And lastly, there was a major difference between the Iliad and Troy on how the story
ended. In the Iliad, Homer clearly stated that it was all about Achilles rage. So the story ended
when Achilles gave up his rage toward Hector and let Priam took his body away. While the
movie Troy wanted to show the end of the Trojan War, so they created the Trojan Horse and
ended the battle with the fall of Troy.
I think the story should end like the movie. In Homers time, people already know how
the Trojan War ended, so he didnt have to tell the full story about the war. But we had less
knowledge toward the Trojan War, so I like how the movie told the full story, gave us more
character development and showed us the end of Achilles.
In one word, when Homer created the Iliad, he incorporated gods actions throughout the
book. Gods directly interfered in the battle. They even decided the outcome of the Trojan War.
Because at the time, people believed that gods were physically existing in the world. The movie
Troy, as a modern had a different perspective. The movie didnt believe that gods had the power

to directly interact with humans. In the movie, gods had no physical presents in the Trojan War.
All the differences among the presents of gods were because of the different time period and
different attitude toward mythology.