No one said there was anything wrong with tribal lore and I made the exact same point about the Iliad you are making here. If you wish to criticize my position then criticize my position not a straw man. Are these gospels so mystical people lose the ability to read and reason when they see them criticized?
I'd love to have someone here actually debate the merits of the idea that tribal lore from 2000+ years ago should be used to offer us moral guidance today. The idea that a secular multi-cultural society should need to seek guidance from intolerant tribal folk lore from the late bronze age and early iron age is genuinely scary. The idea that making this observation apparently requires many to protest that there are occasional lyrical passages amid the intolerance and bloodshed is also scary. Is there such a paucity of material available that is relevant to helping a modern culture deal with personal and civil issues that we simply must include sectarian squabbles from ancient history to help us deal with them?
Leni Reifenstahl made some truly memorable art but does one feel compelled to point this out _every_ time the atrocities of the Nazi's are discussed and does this beauty created by Reifenstahl have any relevance if one is discussing why Fascism offers us nothing today in the way of guidance? Feel free to condemn Italian Fascism in my presence. I won't feel compelled to point out how Italian Futurism has been a profound influence on my art work and how breathtaking much of it is.
John Thornton