Suppliant, guest, and the power of Zeus in Homeric epic

This report investigates the theme of supplication in both the Iliad and Odyssey especially in regards to the role of Zeus as protector of suppliants in each of the poems. Although Zeus is never given the epithet Hikesios in the Iliad as is the case in the Odyssey, he nevertheless acts as such in the Iliad’s final scenes of supplication. The scenes discussed in this paper include the supplication between Thetis and Zeus, Adrastos and Menelaus, Hektor and Achilles, Priam and Achilles, Odysseus and the Cyclops, and Odysseus and Arete. While Zeus appears indifferent to the battlefield suppliants in the Iliad such as Adrastos in the beginning of the Iliad, his own interest in justice as well as an increasing value of the suppliant draw Zeus into a more active role in supplications. This phenomenon is further supported by supplication scenes in the Odyssey that refer to events of the Iliad and in which Zeus is explicitly called “protector of suppliants.”