“Nine days the arrows of God pierced the army.” (Homer, The Iliad, 1.61) The Iliad written by Homer describes the war between the Achaeans and the Trojans. In addition to the mortals fighting each other, the gods also intervened in the war between the two sides; in the Iliad the gods played a very significant role in the battles; they brought divine powers to the deadly fronts of war, the Greek gods embody many human characteristics, there are many themes in the Iliad that build the interventions of the gods, lust, jealousy, revenge, anger, pride and favoritism are some of the reasons why the Olympian gods were involved in the Trojan War. The Olympians used humans as puppets while the gods engaged in conflict against each other. Lust is a major theme in the Trojan War interference; Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and lust, is responsible for starting the Trojan War. The goddess promised Paris, prince of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world if he chose her as the most beautiful of all. Originally it was Zeus who was supposed to choose between the goddesses, but Zeus missed the opportunity and used Paris as a puppet to choose between the goddesses. The choices Paris had to choose from were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite; all three goddesses had to bribe the young prince with favors. She was queen of the gods and promised him power over all of Europe, Athena corrupted him with the victory of the Trojans, leaving Sparta in ruins and Aphrodite guaranteed him the most beautiful woman on earth. Paris blinded by lust chose Aphrodite as the "fairest of all" leading to the fall of Troy. The “most beautiful woman on earth” was Helen of Sparta, to whom a god had promised her reward… middle of paper… all the gods who participated in the Trojan War; the majority of the Olympian gods chose to side between the Trojans and the Achaeans, intervening in the battle. Major gods such as Apollo, Aphrodite and Artemis joined the side of the Trojans while Athena, Hera and Poseidon joined the Greeks. Pride is a critical topic among the gods because none of the gods wanted to lose the war. Each god had different opinions on which side should win the war; Apollo wanted the Trojans to win the battle because of his anger towards Agamemnon and the Achaeans who were fighting against Athena“[…] [B]ut Phoebus Apollo seeing her from the heights of Pergamum – the gloomy god, determined for the victory of the Trojans – stood up to intercept her… (7.23-25) Favoritism is another theme in the role of the gods interfering in the Trojan War; most Olympians preferred a mortal on both sides of the war. Era