Homer's Iliad features many sacred cultural principles found in ancient Greek culture, but the importance and gravity of fate are communicated at the forefront of the work. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While the exact properties of destiny and how it can be changed are a mystery to the public, the importance and honor of meeting one's destiny is clear. In the Iliad, the meaning of fate becomes more apparent when mortal and semi-mortal characters come to know their fate because the gods reveal it to them under special circumstances. Characters like Achilles, Patroclus, and Hector learn their fate from the gods, and this gives them a different perspective on their lives and greatly influences their decision making. This essay will examine these circumstances, address the nature of the gods' intervention, and determine how knowledge of one's destiny influences how the character makes decisions. In the first book of the Iliad, Agamemnon and Achilles come to a furious confrontation after the gods curse their troops with a plague because Agamemnon will not return Chryses, his prize slave, to his father. During the argument, Agamemnon threatens Achilles, claiming that he will steal Achilles' prize, Briseis, and bring Chryses home to end the plague. Achilles gets so angry that he goes to draw his sword when Hera sends Athena to stop Achilles. Athena tells him, “Stop fighting now. Do not take up the sword…and I tell you this – and I know it is the truth – one day glittering gifts will lie before you, thrice to pay all his outrage” (Homer, 84). Achilles obeys Athena for multiple reasons, the first being that the ancient Greeks looked to the gods to make decisions and interpreted certain inner thoughts as if the gods were telling them what to do. The second reason is that Achilles is also selfish in nature. He understands Athena's prophecy as an opportunity to win the argument with Agamemnon and further spite him “three times” in the future. Achilles faces further prophecies in Book Nine. His mother, the goddess Thetis, tells him that he has two possible destinies. Either Achilles will stay to fight the Trojans and die with eternal glory, or he will return home to live a long life without glory or pride. Thetis is a divine entity; therefore her emotionality as a mother is accentuated compared to that of a mortal mother, and this pushes her to ask other gods for help for her son. She is desperate to keep her son alive and bring him glory, and tells him this prophecy to protect him. However, he does not think about the consequences for the mortals around him because he is immortal. The act of telling Achilles his two possible fates puts the Achaean army in grave danger due to the possibility of Achilles not returning to battle. When Odysseus goes to Achilles to offer rewards from Agamemnon in exchange for his return to the Achaean battle lines, Achilles refuses for two reasons. First, Achilles is stubborn and still retains his resentment for Agamemnon. Agamemnon is now semi-balanced about the conflict with Achilles and offers him lavish gifts to quell the argument, but Achilles is still seething with bitter anger. Secondly, Achilles' thirst for glory and power has succumbed to the fear of death. What Achilles doesn't understand is that there is a certain kind of honor in fulfilling one's destiny, but he runs away from his instead of embracing it. Knowing his fate, knowing that he will die in the Trojan War, prevents Achilles from fighting. This fact stalls the troops and puts them in danger, all because his divine mother told him his fate. He announces that he plans to return home to Phthia to livea long life. Achilles is one of many mortals to learn his fate in the Iliad. In the sixteenth book Patroclus goes to Achilles in tears because of his refusal to fight and thinks that Achilles is holding back because of the prophecy that Thetis told him. Patroclus asks Achilles to let him wear his armor into battle to intimidate the enemy if he does not fight himself. Achilles denies the fear and insists that he will not fight because he is still angry at Agamemnon and allows Patroclus to wear the armor. The Trojans are struck with fear when they see Patroclus in disguise. He kills many men, including Zeus' son Sarpedon. Zeus attempts to intervene and save his son, "... My Sarpedon, the man I love best, my son doomed to die... I must gather him, now, while he is still alive" (Homer, 426) ? Hera reminds him that he cannot intervene in Sarpedon's fate: Fearful majesty, son of Kronos, what are you saying? A man, a mere mortal, whose fate was sealed long ago? Would you free him from all the sufferings of death? Do what you want, Zeus…. But none of the immortal gods will ever praise you. And I tell you this, take it to heart, I urge you: if you send Sarpedon home, still alive, be careful! Surely some other god will also want to free his son from heavy fighting (Homer, 427). Here, Hera explains to the gods the importance of mortal destiny. If Zeus or any other god were to “swoop in” and save mortals, ignoring the importance of their fates and the fates of those around them, the mortal world would turn into chaos. While the mundane behavior of mortals has little effect on the gods, intervening in the fates of individual men could cause unrest in the human world. He also comments on how the other gods will view him for acting on Sarpedon's fate. The other gods will "never praise him" for getting caught up in mortality. After Patroclus kills Sarpedon, he pursues the Trojans who have retreated to the city. However, Apollo seems to remind him that it is not his destiny to conquer the city. Apollo then makes Patroclus vulnerable in his armor and encourages Hector to kill him. When Patroclus dies he says to Hector: “...You won't live long either, I swear. I can already see them looming at your side: death and the strong force of destiny, to overthrow you at the hands of the great royal son of Aeacus, Achilles” (Homer, 440)! This single battle in Book Sixteen involves multiple destinies that are communicated by multiple gods. It is not clear to the reader what exactly the properties of fate are, how fate works, or how it can be changed. It is clear, however, that an individual's fate is so important that even Zeus, who is mentioned as the god who determines a mortal's fate at birth, is unable to save his son from death because doing so would invite ridicule. from others. Gods and chaos among humans. Therefore, the gods are able to intervene, but usually do not intervene in the fate of a mortal. Zeus almost upsets fate with Hector again in book twenty-two. Hector awaits his fate as Apollo reveals that it is he who Achilles pursues outside the walls of Troy. Hector believes that waiting and fighting Achilles is his only option. When Achilles arrives, Hector runs and is chased around the walls of Troy. Zeus hesitates for a moment, feeling sorry for Hector, and thinks of saving him from his fate. Athena despises him for thinking this way and Zeus tells her to do what she thinks is best and not hold back. Even after this battle and the death of Patroclus, the fates of Achilles and Patroclus come full circle in Book Twenty-Three. Patroclus appears to Achilles in a dream and asks him to bury his body as soon as possible because he will have to wait outside the gates of Hades until he has been cremated and buried. Also remember ad.