The Iliad Religion Quotes

Down the goddess swept from Olympus’ craggy peaks
and dove like a star the son of Cronus flings.
Cronus with all his turning, twisting ways –
a sign to men at sea or a massive army marching,
blazing on with a stream of sparks showering in its wake.
Like a shooting star Athena flashed across the earth,
plunging down in the midst of both camped forces.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 86-92. In this wonderful epic simile the goddess of wisdom Athena is said to sweep down from Olympus to the armies like a shooting star. Zeus has ordered her down to the battlefield in order to provoke the Trojans into breaking the truce.

Don’t lie, Atrides! You know the truth – say it!
We claim we are far, far greater than our fathers.
We are the ones who stormed the seven gates of Thebes,
heading a weaker force and facing stronger walls
but obeying the gods’ signs and backed by Zeus.
Our fathers? Fools. Their own bravado killed them.
Don’t tell me you rank our fathers with ourselves!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 4, lines 470-476. When Agamemnon goads his troops including Achaean commander Diomedes for failing to live up to his ancestors’achievements, Sthenelus makes this retort. He says that his troops are far better militarily than their ancestors, citing their successful storming of Thebes when they were supported by god Zeus.

Then Pallas Athena granted Tydeus’ son Diomedes
strength and daring – so the fighter would shine forth
and tower over the Argives and win himself great glory.
She set the man ablaze, his shield and helmet flaming
with tireless fire like the star that flames at harvest.
bathed in the Ocean, rising up to outshine all other stars.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 1-6. The fierce Greek warrior and leader Diomedes is described in an epic simile as being like fire and blazing like a star, as goddess Athena gives him strength and daring to win great glory for himself.

Meriones killed Phereclus – son of Tecton,
son of the blacksmith Harmon – the fighter’s hands
had the skill to craft all kinds of complex work
since Pallas Athena loved him most, her protege
who had built Paris his steady, balanced ships,
trim launchers of death, freighted with death
for all of Troy and now for the shipwright too:
what could the man know of all the gods’ decrees?

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 64-71. The Greek captain from Crete Meriones kills the Trojan shipbuilder Phereclus. A protege of goddess Athena and much loved by her, Phereclus was a target for the Greeks because he built Paris’s ship, including the boat he used to kidnap Helen.

Down the plain he stormed like a stream in spate,
a routing winter torrent sweeping away the dikes:
the tight, piled dikes can’t hold it back any longer,
banks shoring the blooming vineyards cannot curb its course –
a flash flood bursts as the rains from Zeus pour down their power,
acre on acre the well-dug work of farmers crumbling under it –
so under Tydides’ force the Trojan columns panicked now,
no standing their ground, massed, packed as they were.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 96-104. Diomedes continues to rage through the battle attacking the panicked Trojans – just before he is wounded in the shoulder from an arrow shot by Pandarus. An epic simile describes the Greek warrior’s rampage like a river swollen by rains from the god Zeus causing a flash flood and bursting through dikes and farmers’ vineyards.

I’ve lifted the mist from off your eyes
that’s blurred them up to now –
so you can tell a god from man on sight.
So now if a god comes up to test your mettle,
you must not fight the immortal powers head-on,
all but one of the deathless gods, that is –
if Aphrodite daughter of Zeus slips into battle,
she’s the one to stab with your sharp bronze spear!

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 140-147. Athena tells Diomedes that a mist veils the eyes of mortals which prevents them from distinguishing gods in battle. She lifts the mist from his eyes, so he can tell a god on sight. Then she warns him that he is to fight only one god, Aprodite, and stab her with his bronze spear.

Diomedes, loosing his war cry, charged Aeneas –
though what he saw was lord Apollo himself,
guarding, spreading his arms above the fighter,
but even before the mighty god he would not flinch.
Tydides reared and hurled himself again and again,
trying to kill Aeneas, strip his famous armor.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 496-501. Here the fearless Diomedes heroically takes the gods and Aeneas – Apollo is protecting the Trojan fighter. Again and again Diomedes hurls himself at Aeneas, trying to kill him, unflinching before the mighty archer god.

The troops themselves had no fear,
no dread of the Trojans’ power and breakneck charges,
no, they stood their ground like heavy thunderheads
stacked up on the towering mountaintops by Cronus’ son,
stock-still in a windless calm when the raging North Wind
and his gusty ripping friends that had screamed down
to rout dark clouds have fallen dead asleep. So staunch
they stood the Trojan onslaught, never shrinking once.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 601-608. This epic simile tells us how the unshrinking Achaeans, spurred on to fight by their leaders, show no fear and hold their ground against the Trojans. They are likened to thunderheads stacked up on the mountaintops by the god of lightning Zeus.

Then Athena, child of Zeus whose shield is thunder,
letting fall her supple robe at the Father’s threshold –
rich brocade, stitched with her own hands’ labor –
donned the battle-shirt of the lord of lightning,
buckled her breastplate geared for wrenching war
and over her shoulders slung her shield, all tassels
flaring terror –
…Then over her brows Athena placed her golden helmet
fronted with four knobs and forked with twin horns,
engraved with the fighting men of a hundred towns.
Then onto the flaming chariot Pallas set her feet
and seized her spear.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 841-847, 851-855. Athena dresses for battle to intervene on the Achaeans’ behalf, along with Hera, having been given permission to do so by Zeus. Her stunning outfit is befitting for her status as a warrior goddess.

There Diomedes aimed and stabbed, he gouged him down
his glistening flesh and wrenched the spear back out
the brazen god of war let loose a shriek, roaring,
thundering loud as nine, ten thousand combat soldiers
shriek with Ares’ fury when massive armies clash.
A shudder swept all ranks, Trojans and Argives both,
terror-struck by the shriek the god let loose,
Ares whose lust for slaughter never dies.
But now,
wild as a black cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank,
building up from the day’s heat, blasts and towers –
so brazen Ares looked to Tydeus’ son Diomedes.
Soaring up with the clouds to the broad sweeping sky.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 990-1001. God of war Ares retreats to Mount Olympus from the battlefield after being wounded by Diomedes, who drives a spear into his belly. An epic simile describes his shriek as being like that of ten thousand soldiers in war. Another extended simile tells us that he ascended to Olympus like a dark cyclone twisting out of a cloudbank.

We everlasting gods…Ah what chilling blows
we suffer – thanks to our own conflicting wills –
whenever we show these mortal men some kindness.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 5, lines 1008-1010. God of war Ares, after being wounded by Diomedes, indulges in a little self-pitying whining. Homer’s gods frequently interfere in the mortal world out of some kind of emotional attachment to the object of their intervention. Ares calls that "kindness." In the Trojan War each god favors different warriors, and that gives rise to war among the gods. This is what Ares means by "chilling blows" as a result of their own "conflicting wills."

Hector, you go back to the city, tell our mother
to gather all the older noble women together
in gray-eyed Athena’s shrine on the city’s crest,
unlock the doors of the goddess’ sacred chamber –
and take a robe, the largest, loveliest robe
that she can find throughout the royal halls,
a gift that far and away she prizes most herself,
and spread it out across the sleek-haired goddess’ knees.
Then promise to sacrifice twelve heifers in her shrine,
yearlings never broken, if only she’ll pity Troy,
the Trojan wives and all our helpless children,
if only she’ll hold Diomedes back from the holy city.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 102-113. Helenus, a son of Priam and also a seers, tells his brother Hector how to save Troy from Diomedes’s onslaught. Hector is urged to go back to the city to organize a Trojan sacrifice of twelve heifers to Athena so that the goddess will pity Troy and hold Diomedes back.

Zeus, all you immortals! Grant this boy, my son,
may be like me, first in glory among the Trojans,
strong and brave like me, and rule all Troy in power
and one day let them say, "He is a better man than his father!" –
when he comes home from battle bearing the bloody gear
of the mortal enemy he has killed in war –
a joy to his mother’s heart.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 568-574. Hector’s parting words before going to battle in this prayer to Zeus for his infant son and wife. He asks the god to take care of his son’s reputation, so that he it will exceed that of his father. He asks also that his son be a joy to his mother. As well as being a great warrior, Hector is a committed family man, who deeply loves his wife Andromache and son.

So Hector prayed
and placed his son in the arms of his loving wife.
Andromache pressed the child to her scented breast,
smiling through her tears. Her husband noticed,
and filled with pity now, Hector stroked her gently,
trying to reassure her, repeating her name: "Andromache.
dear one, why so desperate? Why so much grief for me?"

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 6, lines 574-580. Hector is depicted here as a loving family man, trying to reassure his tearful wife Andromache as he departs for battle and prays for his family.

Ajax harnessed himself in burnished, gleaming bronze
and once he had strapped his legs and chest in armor,
out he marched like the giant god of battle wading
into the wars of men when Zeus drives them hard
to clash and soldier on with heart-devouring hate.
So giant Ajax marched, that bulwark of the Achaeans –
a grim smile curling below his dark shaggy brows,
under his legs’ power taking immense strides,
shaking his spear high, its long shadow trailing.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 237-245. A fully armed Great Ajax moves out to face Hector in single combat. In an epic simile he is compared to a giant god of war, Ares, marching into a clash of warriors stirred up to fight by the god Zeus.

Father Zeus, is there a man on the whole wide earth
who still informs the gods of all his plans, his schemes?
Don’t you see? Look there – the long-haired Achaeans
have flung that rampart up against their ships,
around it they have dug an enormous deep trench
and never offered the gods a hundred splendid bulls,
but its fame will spread as far as the light of dawn!
And men will forget those ramparts I and Apollo
reared for Troy in the old days –
for the hero Laomedon – we broke our backs with labor.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 516-525. Poseidon complains bitterly to Zeus that the Greeks have built their trench and walls to fortify their ships without making the due sacrifice of a hundred bulls to him. Though he appears more concerned that the fortifications will earn some kind of fame and immortality, while his and Apollo’s ramparts for Troy will be forgotten. Even gods are cursed with fragile egos, it seems!

Come now, just wait till these long-haired Achaeans
sail back in their ships to the fatherland they love,
then batter their wall, sweep it into the salt breakers
and pile over the endless beach your drifts of sand again,
level it to your heart’s content – the Argives’ mighty wall.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 7, lines 532-536. An angry Zeus responds to Poseidon’s moaning about the great wall that the Greeks built at Troy. When the Achaeans sail back home after the end of the war, he tells Poseidon that he can destroy it to his heart’s content.

The god bent his head that the armies must be saved
not die in blood. That instant he launched an eagle –
truest of Zeus’s signs that fly the skies – a fawn
clutched in its talons, sprung of a running doe,
but he dropped it free beside the handsome shrine
where the Achaean soldiers always sacrificed to Zeus.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 8, lines 281-286. Zeus feels sorry for the weeping Agamemnon, who appeals to the god as Hector calls for torches to burn the Greek ships. Zeus sends Agamemnon an omen that his armies are to be saved – an eagle carrying a fawn in its talons and dropping it free at the shrine where the Achaeans sacrifice to Zeus.

Go back and tell him all,
all I say – out in the open too – so other Achaeans
can wheel on him in anger
…He cheated me, did me damage, wrong! But never again,
he’ll never rob me blind with his twisting words again!
Once is enough for him. Die and be damned for all I care!
Zeus who rules the world has ripped his wits away.
His gifts, I loathe his gifts…
I wouldn’t give you a splinter for that man!
Not if he gave me ten times as much, twenty times over, all
he possesses now, and all that could pour in from the world’s end –
not if his gifts outnumbered all the grains of sand
…and dust in the earth – no, not even then could Agamemnon
bring my fighting spirit round until he pays me back,
pays full measure for all his heartbreaking outrage!
His daughter…I will marry no daughter of Agamemnon.
Not if she rivaled Aphrodite in all her golden glory,
not if she matched the crafts of dear-eyed Athena,
not even then would I make her my wife! No.
let her father pitch on some other Argive.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 450-478. Despite the best efforts of Odysseus to lure Achilles back to the battle, the Greek warrior is still seething with anger at Agamemnon and refuses to budge. He point black refuses the king’s offer of gifts and a daughter in marriage – not if she rivaled goddesses Aphrodite or Athena would he wed her. He says that Zeus has ripped Agamemnon’s wits away.

Mother tells me,
the immortal goddess Thetis with her glistening feet,
that two fates bear me on to the day of death.
If I hold out here and I lay siege to Troy,
my journey home is gone, but my glory never dies.
If I voyage back to the fatherland I love,
my pride, my glory dies…
true, but the life that’s left me will be long,
the stroke of death will not come on me quickly.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 497-505. Achilles has rejected the embassy of Achaean commanders come to persuade him back to the war effort, with promises of Agamemnon’s gifts and plunder. In this passage he talks about his fate. His mother and sea goddess Thetis has told him that if he returns home he will live a long life without glory or pride. If he joins in the siege of Troy he faces death but his glory never dies.

But now, Achilles, beat down your mounting fury!
It’s wrong to have such an iron, ruthless heart.
Even the gods themselves can bend and change,
and theirs is the greater power, honor, strength.
Even the gods, I say, with incense, soothing vows,
with full cups poured and the deep smoky savor
men can bring them round, begging for pardon
when one oversteps the mark, does something wrong.

– Homer

The Iliad, Book 9, lines 601-608. Phoenix, a member of the embassy send by Agamemnon to persuade Achilles to return to battle, tells the Greek warrior to temper his rage. He accuses him of having an iron and ruthless heart, pointing out that even the gods when they do wrong can bend and change.
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