Iliad - Book 5 ("Diomedes Fights the Gods")

Diomedes Wounds Aphrodite, Arthur Fitger, 1905

Discussion points:

1. Book 5 is all about depicting aristeia, god-like battle-prowess. Diomedes stalks the battlefield like a shining god. Consider Homer's depiction, his images. Consider, however, what Homer might be saying when the text says, "But Diomedes, / which side was the fighter on? You could not tell-- / did he rampage now with the Trojans or the Argives" (167.93-5)? What might he be suggesting about the nature of the gods?
2. Throughout the book, Homer reports the genealogy, sometimes the history, of fighters doomed to die. Why? (e.g. 169.160-77).
3. What is the connection between war-gear and kleos? (e.g. 172.270-304).f
4. What is ironic about the truth, "Doesn't the son of Tydeus know, down deep, / the man who fights the gods does not live long" (177.465-66)?  
5. What is ironic about Athena's mocking words to Aphrodite: "Fighting is not for you, my child, the works of war. / See to the works of marriage, the slow fires of longing. / Athena and blazing Ares will deal with all the bloodshed" (178.492-4)?
6. Athena hurls some serious insults at Ares (191.959-64). How do her words echo those concerning Diomedes above? What is Homer saying about the nature of war?
7. What is significant about Ares and his relationship to Zeus? What does this imply about peace on earth (193.1027-1053)?