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The Nature of Violence and Its Effects
“So on they fought like a swirl of living fire-You could not say if the sun and moon still stood secure, So dense the battle-haze that engulfed the brave Who stood their ground to defend Patroclus’ body” (17.421–424).
In one of the most famous battles depicted in the epic The Iliad, Homer emphasizes the inner nature of violence that resides in all humans, which ultimately stems from the never-changing gods who seem to value war and violence over everything else. Stressed throughout the entire epic poem is the will and desire to fight rather than try to resolve conflicts, thus the reason gods act on violence, even helping the mortals fight their way through brutality. When Diomedes was granted powers — which was a nice gesture from Athena — to hurt gods and to enter into combat with them, he was launched into the fight with Ares, swaying his views on mortals and what they do to the nature of gods. According to Ares, the everlasting gods must suffer “chilling blows” due to their “own conflict wills” whenever they “show mortal men some kindness” and are thus forced to battle men, meaning gods are forced to engage in war amongst men due to the lack of respect returned to them when they are nice to men: desire for violence is thrust upon all gods due to Athena’s curse (5.1008–1009). The idea of violence and battles, which is evidently engraved in the minds of mankind due to the…
