Try hard to forget about the fact that this sumptuous epic poem exists to most of us only as translation. Forget that its roots are so ancient that no one rightly knows how old it is or who wrote it. Leave out that the Iliad celebrates a culture and mindset that appears distant, violent and contradictory. Somehow – somehow – ignore the torrents blood, the spilling intestines, the torn nipples, and soft flesh pierced by bronze spearheads that pour relentlessly from every page…

That is often what we ask our students to do when they encounter the Iliad. As teachers, we want to flatten differences between ourselves and the poetic subject so that students can immediately find relevance for themselves.