Which god supports the Trojans throughout the Iliad and sends a plague on the Greeks? Apollo is the answer.
Apollo is the Olympian god who repeatedly assists Troy in Homer’s Iliad. His intervention begins the poem: Chryses, Apollo’s priest, asks Agamemnon to return his daughter Chryseis, who has been taken as a war prize. When Agamemnon refuses and insults him, Apollo sends plague-bearing arrows into the Greek camp.
The plague lasts until the Greeks agree to return Chryseis. That settlement creates a second crisis, because Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles, provoking Achilles’ withdrawal and giving the poem its theme of heroic wrath. Apollo’s support for Troy continues on the battlefield. He rallies Trojan forces, protects Hector, and interferes when Patroclus advances too far during his attack while wearing Achilles’ armor.
Apollo is therefore not simply a neutral healer or sun god in this episode. Greek mythology gives him power both to cause disease and to remove it, making the plague a divine punishment rather than an ordinary military setback. Athena, Hera, and Zeus also influence the war, but Apollo is the god specifically linked to the opening plague and sustained Trojan aid.