the iliad

  It was interesting in Book five when the battle troy became a family feud among the gods. Athena helps Diomedes by riding with him in the chariot and wounding Ares. It seems that the gods and the mortals have the same destructive human characteristics. the battle for troy becomes a contest of the favored side among the gods shown especially when Athena empowers Diomedes with heroic strength that are unmatched in the battle field but still unable to compare to the power of Achilles. Athena also convinced the archer Panderus to attack Menelaus. Zeus accepted the plea of Achilles’s mother. It seems that the mortals are puppets in which the gods can toy with any way they want with or without their consent.