Describe in brief in the sides that the gods and goddesses took in the Trojan War.

The main divinities that aided the Greeks were Hera and
Athena. This goes back to the tradition of the Judgment of Paris, in which the Trojan
Paris chose Aphrodite as the most beautiful of the three goddesses. Thus, Hera and
Athena, angered at being rejected by this Trojan, decided to help the Greek side in the
war.

As for the Trojans, they were supported especially by
Aphrodite, who was the mother of Trojan Aeneas, and who was chosen by Paris as the most
beautiful goddess in the above-mentioned Judgment. In Iliad 5, Ares
supports Aphrodite and ends up getting attacked by the Greek Diomedes. Ares also
supports the Trojans in Iliad 20, as do Artemis, Apollo, Leto, and
the river Xanthus.

In Iliad 16, we see
Apollo helping the Trojans as he prevents Patroclus from scaling Troy's walls. Apollo
and Poseidon are said to have built Troy's walls. Poseidon rescues Aeneas from Achilles
in Iliad 20, but earlier in the same book Homer says he was going
to fight on the Greek side. In Iliad 20, we also hear that
Hephaestus and Hermes were going to support the
Greeks.

Zeus aids both sides in the war. When asked by
Thetis, Zeus agrees to help Achilles. In Iliad 16, however, when
Zeus' son Sarpedon, an ally of the Trojans, is about to be killed by Patroclus, Zeus
considers rescuing Sarpedon from the battle.