As early as book one, we have Apollo both sending and removing plague to the Greek camp in response to the prayer of his priest Chryses, and Thetis rushing to the comfort of her son Achilles. These gods and goddesses are engaged with human affairs, but their motivations seem comprensible. After all, Agamemnon was pretty disrespectful to the Apollo's priest, and Thetis is Achilles' mother.
The scene at the end of book one, where the gods feast and sleep together, having put their strife aside, is also comprehensible. Aphrodite intervening on behalf of Paris is acceptable.
It is at the beginning of book four that the gods begin to vex us: we have a difficult time accepting Hera and Athena's ceaseless rage against Ilium. Why do these two goddesses hate the Trojans so? Does the Apple of Discord story really help us understand this?
Especially Hera's response to Zeus, who tells her he will allow her to destroy Troy as long as he gets to destroy one of her favorite cities in return:
"Excellent! The three cities that I love best of all
are Argos and Sparta, Mycenae with streets as broad as Troy's.
Raze them--whenever they stir the hatred in your heart.
My cities...I will never rise in their defense,
not against you--I'd never grudge your pleasure."
(Fagle's translation)
How to explain the intervention in human affairs that is based not on intervening on behalf of a favorite priest or son, but on implacable hatred for a city or race?
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