Iliad Considerations II

I think Chris's point about our expectation that gods support particular peoples (aka nations) is very helpful. With Homer's Iliad we have to step back in time to a historical epoch (1100-800 BCE) that long precedes the Greek polis (the city state which is the setting for the emergence of philosophy) and very long precedes the Greek nation (19th century?) Imaginatively the Iliad's world is a world of kings and their followers. So it's a good question to ask: what are the values of these little tribal chieftains, their fighting men and their poets? This is what the Iliad can help to reveal to us. Chris asks us to wonder why they are willing to fight, if they can't be assured of divine aid? It's a great question to use to excavate what is going in this epic. My own (uncensored) opinion is that the best way to sort out the nature of these gods is to look at the details of their personal relationships both with mortals and with each other, but I am bit of a softy when it comes to polytheism.
Laurie