 In seeking to substantiate the claim that the wish is the fundamental religious phenomenon, Feuerbach analyzes several theophanies from the Iliad in order show that the gods make their appearances in the epic in response to petitions directed to them by humans. Insofar as the ends toward which the actions of the gods in the Homeric epics are directed are determined by the wishes of the mortals who invoke their blessings and curses, the gods act as the representatives or deputies of (Vertreter) of human self-love (T 12). “The wish is a slave of necessity, but a slave with the will to freedom” (T 47), and the gods are the imaginary embodiment of human freedom from the restrictions of finitude. Feuerbach arrives at this conclusion through his analysis of the acts of petitionary prayer in the Iliad and their role in wish fulfillment, and cites in this context the observation of the Byzantine Homeric commentator, Eustathius of Thessalonica, that Homer allows no just request made of the gods to remain unfulfilled. In the divine-human relationship, it is the mortals who desire, strive, and will, and it is the gods who complete or bring to fruition these human intentions to the extent that the conditions for their satisfaction are beyond human control (T 19). While the wish itself is a purely subjective psychological occurrence, the completion of the action to which a wish might give rise, or the achievement of the end toward which the wish it directed, depends upon external circumstances that may or may not be conducive to the fulfillment of the wish. It is under such circumstances, where failure is a distinct possibility, and a matter of urgency hangs in the balance, that the gods are invoked and their blessings sought in order to bring some human endeavor to a successful completion. The gods are beings who are able to do or know what humans would like to be able to do or know, but cannot (T 39). 