[Reposting my comment from the home page]
These are subject to change, but these are my thoughts at the moment.
1) The gods seem to ALWAYS contradict themselves. This is very evident in Apollo's case when you couple Book Seven, line 40 with line 271. He just can't stand to let the mortals fight alone. None of the gods can. This includes Zeus, who still interferes with combat more indirectly (lightning, etc) even after barring the "lesser" gods from interference.
2) This leads me to, at times, see kleos in only the mortals. Book Seven, line 242: Hektor wants to fight fairly, and strike a blow which may be seen by Aias. Later, a form of respect, which may be seen as honor, can be seen in the break from fighting to respect the dead. They respect the honorable fighters who have died.
3) Zeus gets zero respect, and deservedly so. Apollo deflects an arrow in Book 8, line 311, after receiving orders to refrain from interference. Hera and Athene do not even want to listen to Zeus. They see him as a contradiction within himself. This is completely understandable. Zeus seems to be the only god who will not support a single side. Granted, this may show his wisdom of something the others do not know. However, the mere fact that he also interferes in battle and doesn't hold to his word of punishment for the gods' interference shows me that he has a complete inner contradiction.
