The Iliad Characters and Relationships

Achilles

Greatest Greek warrior; son of Peleus and Thetis; his withdrawal, return, mortality, grief, and

Changing the view of heroic values organizes the poem.

Agamemnon

Commander of the Greeks; powerful but repeatedly associated with problems of arrogance

and leadership.  king of Mycenae/Argos in the epic tradition, brother of Menelaus

Hector

Greatest Trojan warrior; connected to family and city; compare his heroism with Paris and Achilles.

Helen

 Living in Troy; self-reproaching and aware of the consequences of war; connected to agency,

responsibility, weaving, and storytelling. Wife of Menelaus.

Patroclus

Achilles' closest companion; his relationship with Achilles and death drive the later poem.

Andromache and Astyanax

 Central to Book 6 and its love/war, birth/death juxtapositions. Wife and son of Hector.

Priam and Hecuba

Hector's parents; major figures in the final treatment of grief and mourning. King and Queen of Troy.

Odysseus

Intelligence, cunning, speech; important in assembly, embassy, and spying episodes.

Diomedes and Glaucus

Ancestry, xenia, and gift exchange interrupt combat.

Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Thetis, Poseidon, Apollo

The gods do not completely eliminate human free will, but they limit and manipulate it. Mortals remain responsible for many of their decisions, yet divine intervention makes it difficult to determine whether events occur because of human choice, divine influence, or fate. In the Iliad, divine intervention complicates human agency because the gods frequently influence mortal decisions and determine the outcomes of battles. For example, Athena prevents Achilles from killing Agamemnon in Book 1 and later deceives Hector in Book 22. Although humans still make meaningful choices, their freedom is limited by divine manipulation and fate. Homer therefore presents human agency as existing alongside, rather than independently of, divine power.