Questions about the iliad by homer?

Question

what brings disaster to the greeks?

how does patroclos treat the trojans?

how many sons does priam have?

what are prizes given for in the athletic contest?

why does a quarrel break out among the olympian gods?

why does achilles reject agamemnon's offer to return briseis?

Answer 1

Apollo brings disaster to the Greeks. Well you could blame it on Agamemnon too. Agamemnon did not want to give up his concubine Chryseis and return to his father Chryses. Chryses was a priest of Apollo and when Agamemnon rejected him, he asked his god to take vengeance and so Apollo with his bow and arrow killed both men and livestock that the funeral pyre was continually on fire.

Patroclus treats the Trojans as enemies (obviously). He goes out to fight disguised in Achilles' armor while his friend sulked. He was ultimately killed by Hector who mistook him for Achilles.

I think Priam had 50 or so sons. Not all from his wife Hecuba. He had a number of concubines and thus the high number.

Prizes for the athletic contests if I remembered correctly were armors of dead Greek soldiers (especially the brave and important ones).

Quarrel broke out because each god had different agendas forgot the specific reason. Here's the sides though:

pro-Greek                                          pro-Trojan

Hera                                                 Apollo

Athena                                             Aphrodite

Poseidon                                          Ares

Hephaestus                                      Artemis

Hermes

Why they pick sides: Hera and Athena were rejected by Paris for the title of most beautiful goddess. Poseidon loved the Greeks for being sea-faring people and also he had a vendetta against one of the past kings of Troy. Hephaestus was Hera's son. Don't know Hermes' deal

Aphrodite sides w/ the Trojans because Paris awarded her the apple and title. Ares was her lover (enough said). Apollo's favorite was Hector and Artemis was his twin sister so naturally she sided with him.

Achilles rejected the offer because his pride was wounded too much. This pride would be the cause of Patroclus', Hector's, and his own death.