Books 13-15: Hera & Poseidon Challenge the Will of Zeus

Books 13-15 revolve around the activities of Poseidon and Hera as they undermine Zeus and help turn the battle in favor of the Greeks. The Homeric picture of the Olympians is less orderly than one might expect from a reading of Hesiod’s Theogony in which Zeus unites and is the unquestioned champion of the gods in opposition to the crooked Kronos, monstrous Typhon, and the savage hubris [1] of the Giants. This Olympian subplot does reinforce Zeus’ ultimate position as head of household on Olympus even if relationships between members of his extended family are not entirely idyllic. 

When Zeus is Away, Poseidon Will Play

Book 12 culminated in the success of Sarpedon and Hector, fueled by aide from Zeus, in penetrating the defensive fortifications on the Greeks. As Book 13 begins, Zeus turns his attention away from the war:

Hera and Athena are not the only Olympians opposed to Zeus’ manipulation of the war. Poseidon “pitied the Greeks being beaten by the Trojans, and he was furious with Zeus” (16-18). It is Poseidon’s decision to disobey Zeus and interfere with events at Troy that drives the events of Books 13-15. The poem takes this opportunity to shed some light on the relationships between gods and, thus, the Homeric portrayal of the cosmic order.

When he sees Zeus depart, Poseidon mounts his chariot and sets off from his deep-sea abode:

In a manner similar to that of Athena (Book 5) and Zeus (Book 12), Poseidon arrives on the battlefield and imbues his chosen warriors with the strength necessary to accomplish the goals he has set for them, in this case invigorating the two Ajaxes:

The god then proceeds across the plain and invigorates those Greek heroes whom Zeus and Hector have not already driven from the battlefield. Poseidon does all of this according to his own prerogative, but his actions do not go unnoticed.

Hera’s Intervention

Our version of Book 14 begins with Hera, who has spied Poseidon on the battlefield giving aide to the Greeks, “Gold-throned Hera saw her brother, who was her husband’s brother too, busy on the fields of human glory, and her heart sang” (150-3). She conspires to aide Poseidon’s war effort by distracting Zeus from his brother’s intervention on behalf of the Greeks:

That Hera turns to sex in order to manipulate Zeus is not an accident. Sex is a stereotypical means for women to manipulate men in Greek myth, often employed to, or blamed for, bringing about the misfortune of their lovers.[2] That Hera’s scheme relies on help from Aphrodite, however, can be understood by the cultural bias of the poem: just as there is inequality in the “equal” exchange of armor between Diomedes, the Greek, and Glaucus, the Lycian, in favor of the Greek (Book 6), so too does Hera’s scheme take advantage of the goddess who champions the Trojans. She acquires the magical sash from Aphrodite that she then uses to seduce Zeus.

 Hera’s conversation with Hypnos (Sleep) is perhaps more interesting. Her plan involves seducing Zeus and then, while he’s distracted and sleepy after intercourse, to deepen or lengthen his sleep with the help of Hypnos himself. Hypnos is not, at least initially, a willing participant in Hera’s scheme, and we learn that she has been on the wrong side of Zeus’ ire before, and it has cost her co-conspirators. Hypnos’ reply to Hera is enlightening:  

Hera falls into a well-established pattern of thwarting, or attempting to thwart, Zeus’ will, both within and beyond the Homeric canon. Hypnos was a part of one such plot regarding Herakles, and he professes to have been lucky to escape Zeus’ wrath. He has no intention of risking such a thing again – until Hera seduces him with the allure of a beautiful wife.

Zeus as Head of Household

The Olympians are known as the Olympians because they make their home atop Mt. Olympus. That may seem self-evident, but it is not as intrinsic a relationship as one might assume. For example, the previous generation of gods were the Titans, Hundred-Handers, and Cyclopes. The Hundred-Handers are named on account of their hundred hands. The Cyclopes because of their singular eye (“Round-Eyed”). These are physical characteristics of the gods. The Titans, according to Hesiod’s Theogony, earned their name through the savage act of usurping their father’s right to rule as head of the household. Titans means “overreaches,” and Ouronos, their father, named them thus after they rebelled against him and took over his household (the Cosmos). There is no clear precedent for naming gods based on where they reside, but there is a strong relationship to who their parents are, their appearance, and the aspects of the world that they exert power over.

Zeus settled on Mt. Olympus for his home. Thus, he is the head of the Olympian household. Everyone who resides on Mt. Olympus does so under Zeus’ proverbial roof. Zeus is referred to as “the Olympian.” Indeed, the gods who make-up the Olympians (in addition to others who reside on Olympus) not only do so simply at Zeus’ leisure, but they are members of Zeus’ family. They are predominately his children, whom he has a stronger claim to rule over, but also his siblings – note that the father is conspicuously absent; Olympus is the house of Zeus, not of Kronos nor Ouronos.  Much of Zeus’ right to rule is derived from this basic family dynamic, but not all of it.

Poseidon and Hades are his brothers, elder born according to Hesiod, and they might seem to hold a stronger claim to head of the household if we stick to the primogeniture that historically dominates Western Civilization from 8th century BCE Greece to 19th Century CE America. Of course, there was debate in the ancient world as to whether Poseidon and Hades even resided on Olympus. In the Homeric Cosmos, Hades remains in the Underworld, and Poseidon, while often present on Olympus, makes his home in the sea. This simplifies the power structure on Olympus, but it muddles the hierarchy of the Cosmos. By what right does Zeus claim rule over Earth and, thus, overrule his brothers? He certainly wasn’t the first born male according to Hesiod.

Hesiod’s Theogony is a systematic account of the creation of the Cosmos and the genealogy of the gods. It is also the story of the rise of Zeus to power and a rationale for the order and justice that he brings to the Cosmos. The Theogony (“Birth of the Gods”) is one of the klea theōn, the “fames of the gods.” Its central figures are the gods, and Zeus is its protagonist. It is the preeminent surviving example of the klea theōn. The Iliad, on the other hand, is preeminent amongst the klea andrōn, the “fames of men” or hero tales. While the gods play a significant role in the events of klea andrōn, they are neither the focus nor the protagonists of the stories. This dynamic makes it considerably more difficult for modern (i.e., foreign) readers to understand the roles and order of the gods or natural world which its heroes inhabit. To put it plainly, the Iliad is under little compulsion to present modern readers with a full understanding and appreciation for the interrelationships between the gods, but it does do so in snippets when such information has bearing on the plot of the klea andrōn. Unfortunately for us, it does so with the assumption that its audience is fully aware of the breadth of klea theōn, such as Hesiod’s work, the Homeric Hymns, and many other sources now lost to us.

The Theogony and the Iliad are not simply divergent artistic interpretations of a core text in the way that a movie about Moses might be a dramatization based on Hebrew holy texts. Each iteration is its own “version” of the “holy text,” and they diverge quite a bit at various points. However, since the Iliad leaves many gaps in its picture of cosmic order, we often have little choice but to refer to works such as the Theogony and other Archaic art (usually black- and early red-figure vase painting) to complete the picture.

 In Hesiod’s Theogony, Zeus brings order and justice[6] to the Cosmos after a succession of poor, narcissistic rulers who acted on their own whims and in their own self-interests rather than for the good of the Cosmos (i.e., Ouranos and Kronos). He establishes an order to the Cosmos and maintains it, giving gods various responsibilities and honors (e.g., the Hundred-Handers stand guard over Tartaros; Atlas holds up the sky; Styx has a fixed place in the Underworld and a role in the oaths of the gods). Perhaps foremost among the differences between Zeus and his predecessors is his relationship with the Fates. Zeus is in constant contact with the Fates, and this relationship between Zeus and the Fates is roughly the same in the Iliad as in Theogony. So Zeus’ right to rule is justified or reinforced by his relationship with Fate and a responsibility to the cosmic order.[7] That still does not entirely rationalize his place in the hierarchy of the pantheon, especially as it is characterized in the Iliad. 

After intimidating Hera, Zeus sends her off to do his bidding and, interestingly, he reveals his plans for the heroes on both sides, and those plans are in accord with the respective heroes’ fates. Recall the description of the events in the first lines of the Book 1: All of the trauma in the epic occurred “as Zeus’ will was done” (1.6). Zeus has his favorites in the war, but the will that he sees done is that which is woven by the Fates in consultation with Zeus.[8] Here Zeus shares with Hera and the audience, for the first time in the poem, that which he has in store for the major players in the drama:  

Achilles will be motivated to send out Patroclus who will gain great glory on the battlefield, culminating in the defeat of Zeus’ own son, Sarpedon. Then Patroclus will fall to Hector, whose death will draw Achilles back into the fray to seek vengeance for his fallen friend by killing Hector. This chain of events is both fated and is Zeus’ will. The two go hand in hand.

Having been cowed by Zeus, Hera returns to Olympus and immediately reinforces Zeus’ place amongst the gods and the reason for which he holds it:

Zeus sits apart from the Olympians in his counsels with the Fates. Neither Hera nor Ares nor any other god, according to Hera, may influence him. He can act contrary to the will of the other gods because he is “secure in his supreme power.” Once again, Zeus’ claim to rule in the Iliad is substantiated by the raw power at his disposal.

As Hera’s speech concludes, we learn that Ares’ mortal son, Ascalaphus of Orchomenus, has been slain on the battlefield. Apparently, Ares was unaware of this fact:

Recall that Ares took the field in Book 5 on the side of the Trojans, but his son who has recently been killed, Ascalaphus, was a Greek. In fact, he was one of the Greek kings who originally vied for Helen’s hand in marriage long before the Trojan War.[9] The interests of the gods in this war ebb and flow. Only Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite show a vested, constant interest in the outcome for one side or the other, and even that can be traced to self-interest as a result of the Judgement of Paris. In any event, Ares is filled with rage at the news and prepares to ride down to the battlefield and exact vengeance for his slain son despite Hera’s warning that they not undermine Zeus’ will. It fell to Athena to restrain her half-brother:

Although Athena is an ardent supporter of the Greek cause in the poem, she goes to great lengths to prevent Ares from joining the fray in order to aid the Greeks. She is very explicit that it is fear of Zeus that restrains her.

The last three lines of her speech pickup on important themes woven throughout the Iliad: anger and mortality. Ares’ initial action to descend from Olympus is a direct result of his rage over the death of his son. It causes him to make a rash decision and ignore the will of Zeus. Athena corrects him by force – she physically restrains him – but more importantly with reason. Athena is the Olympian goddess of wisdom, and she acts here as the voice of reason (logos, logic) in opposition to the emotion (rage) that rules Ares’ mind at the moment. When viewed through this lens, the interaction becomes a scene that we have witnessed numerous times throughout the poem, and it parallels the major storyline of Achilles and his rage. Unlike Achilles, however, Ares is convinced to act logically rather than be ruled by his rage. For to descend to the battlefield at this moment would cause ruin to both himself and the society of the gods.

The final two lines speak of the inevitability of death for mortals and the question of merit: “Better men than he have been killed or will be.” Achilles will echo this sentiment in a very similar turn of phrase when he speaks with Lycaon, one of Priam’s sons, in Book 21. The meaning of the phrase is fundamental to the Greek conception of the Cosmos: everybody dies. Ethics and excellence do nothing to change that fact. There is no merit system in this sense: “coward or hero, we all come out the same.” This fact is closely linked to the heroic desire for kleos and a Beautiful Death that we touched on in Sarpedon’s speech from Book 12 and will deal with again in Books 22-24.