(Zeus:)
''Hera, there will be a time afterwards when you can go there
as well. But now let us go to bed and turn to love-making.
For never before has love for any goddess or woman
so melted about the heart inside me, broken it to submission,
as now […]." (14.313-317)
Alright, it's true that this is probably more in the "sex" category than "love" as such, but let's just take Zeus at his word. What is significant about this moment is that it shows the power of emotions – whether they be anger, pride, or love – to completely take possession of a person. Can you think of other moments in the Iliad where this theme appears?
Quote 5
(Zeus:)
"Ah me, that it is destined that the dearest of men, Sarpedon,
must go down under the hands of Menoitios' son Patroklos.
The heart in my breast is balanced between two ways as I ponder,
whether I should snatch him out of the sorrowful battle
and set him down still alive in the rich country of Lykia,
or beat him under at the hands of the son of Menoitios." (16.433-438)
Many of the gods have children fighting for either the Achaians or the Trojans. In this case, Zeus's love for his son Sarpedon is so strong that he considers acting against fate to save him.
Quote 6
(Athene:)
I have taken away the mist from your eyes, that before now
was there, so that you may well recognize the god and the mortal.
Therefore now, if a god making trial of you comes hither
do you not do battle head on with the gods immortal,
not with the rest; but only if Aphrodite, Zeus' daughter,
comes to the fighting, her at least you may stab with the sharp bronze. (5.127-132)
This quote reveals just how strange the Ancient Greek understanding of the gods was. Just when you expect Athene to have taken the mist off Diomedes's eyes so that he doesn't fight with any gods, it turns out that he's only supposed to fight one of them: Aphrodite. What does the fact that Diomedes fights with gods and gets away with it say about Achilleus's claim to be the best of the Achaians?