Cameron Harvey
11/18/16
The Trojan War, a devastating ten-year conflict between the Greeks and the Trojans in
the thirteenth century BCE, is the focus of several pieces of Greek literature. Both The Iliad and
The Women of Troy, written in the eighth and fifth centuries BCE, respectively, offer
contrasting views of the way human and divine characters were handled. One of these characters
was Helen of Sparta, later Helen of Troy. In these two works, Helen’s motivation to leave
Greece, the power of divine intervention, and reverence of the gods are portrayed differently in
the two works.
The two literary works describe different motivations for Helen’s betrayal of Menelaus
and the Greeks, especially concerning the gods. For example, in Book VI of The Iliad, when she
speaks of herself and Paris, Helen states that “Us two, on whom Zeus set a vile destiny… / We
shall be made into things of song for the men of the future.” By saying this, Helen attempts to
absolve herself and Paris of all blame for the war by placing it on the shoulders of Zeus. She
does not believe it to be her fault in the slightest, seeing herself as a victim of Fate and the gods.
Alternatively, in The Women of Troy, when Hecabe questions the assertion that Helen’s
departure was the will of the gods by asking her “why should [the gods] indulge in such frivolity
as travelling to Mount Ida for a beauty-match? / What reason could the goddess Hera have for
being so anxious about beauty” the validity of Helen’s motivation is challenged. The reason she
left Greece is suggested to be her own free will and greed, not the will of the gods. When
Menelaus seconds this challenge shortly after, telling Hecabe that “[Helen] left my house
willingly for a lover’s bed. Her talk / Of Aphrodite is mere invention and pretense,” the
legitimacy of Helen’s claim that the gods caused her to leave Greece is challenged further. The
two stories differ greatly in their retelling of Helen’s motivations, specifically in the role of the
gods in her departure.
The intervention of the Greek gods in the affairs of humans also differs in the two
accounts of the Trojan War. In Book VI of The Iliad, Theano, the Trojan priest to Athena,
beseeches the goddess to give the Trojans help in the war, but “Pallas Athene turned her head
from her.” Athena’s indifference to the Trojan’s request suggests a passiveness in her actions.
She does not bolster the Greek forces, nor does she weaken the defenses of Troy. Instead, Athena
merely turns a blind eye to the conflict. On the other hand, in The Women of Troy, the chorus
tells the audience that after the men inside the Trojan horse began to pillage the city, “the work
of the virgin Pallas was accomplished.” This line indicates that Athena had a significant role in
the fall of Troy because her actions aided the Greeks and led them to victory. In the opening
scene of The Women of Troy, Athena asks for Poseidon’s help to “make [the Greek’s]
homeward journey – unfortunate,” which reveals her intentions to meddle in the affairs of
mortals. Such blatant intervention by the gods, evident throughout The Women of Troy, is not
seen anywhere in Book VI The Iliad.
Another difference between the epic and the play is found in the devotion to the gods in
each story. In The Iliad, Hektor is sent back to Troy with a command from an augur,
to dedicate with the shrine [of Athena] twelve heifers,
yearlings, never broken, if only [Athena] will have pity
on the town of Troy, and the Trojan wives, and their innocent children.
So she might hold back from sacred Ilion the son of Tydeus.
This demonstrates the importance to the Trojans of honoring the gods, for they willingly send
their best fighter back to the city in the midst of battle in a final hope to achieve victory over the
Greeks. Later, when Hektor arrives in Troy, he declines his mother’s offering of wine because of
his piety:
With hands unwashed I would take shame to pour the glittering
wine to Zeus; there is no means for a man to pray to the dark-misted
son of Kronos, with blood and muck all splattered about him.
Hektor’s words convey the importance of his fervor. This ancient civilization valued the gods
above all else, and would observe a multitude of customs to honor them. In contrast, in The
Women of Troy, before Hecabe is taken away by the Greeks to serve her captors, she questions
the gods’ actions against Troy:
Zeus, our maker, begetter,
Lord of our Land!
We are Dardanus’ children! See: is our torment just?
Troy and Greece were civilizations that placed the importance of the gods above all else in
society. Hecabe’s disdain for the usual custom of revering the gods signifies a difference in the
respect seen throughout both stories. Reverence for the gods is mostly absent in The Women of
Troy, but it is constantly shown in Book VI of The Iliad.
The two accounts of the Trojan war differ in the way they display the role of the gods in
Helen’s departure and life during the war. The gods are shown to have a much greater negative
effect on human life in The Women of Troy than in The Iliad, and are respected much less as
well. The time difference between the writing of each story is the most likely cause of these
differences. Even a few centuries in the Greek civilization brought large developments in Greek
society. This is emblematic of a process many civilizations undergo as the culture and values
shift over centuries, ushering in new chapters in the story of the civilization.