Negining the introducing the Iliad

we will begin analysing the iliad today.
the refrence for teh text we will be using is

 http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6130/6130-pdf.pdf

secondary sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad

[ix]
 [ix]
INTRODUCTION.
Scepticism is as much the result of knowledge, as knowledge is
of scepticism. To be content with what we at present know, is,
for the most part, to shut our ears against conviction; since, from
the very gradual character of our education, we must continually
forget, and emancipate ourselves from, knowledge previously
acquired; we must set aside old notions and embrace fresh ones;
and, as we learn, we must be daily unlearning something which
it has cost us no small labour and anxiety to acquire.

The translator is attempting to frame the Iliad as an educated endeavoured in knowledge.  Ve is framing the idea that it is a myth and the scepticism an educated person might have towards myths might blind one to the educational value and reality of this text.  One notices that the translator  believes knowledge comes with an ability to unwind what might blind us or what might mis-guild us when learning.  Seeing  things from new perspectives sometimes destroys  or changes what we have as conceptions concerning something.  We unlearn and re-learn things with newly attained knowledge.  For instance one might have thought the moon was made of green cheese however after the moon landing in the late sixties, the moon’s really became yjay of  a type of planetoid made up of dirt, sand and rock similar to that of  Erf itself.  So you needed to unlearn or better yet redefine the reality one had concerning said moon.  It caused a huge paradigm shift in the way people think about everything from heavenly bodies to their own planet.  Hence what must we unlearn before we even begin reading the Iliad, is it simply that it is not a simple myth, story or fairy tale that has no basis or fact in reality?  Does it have credence for us now?  Can we learn from it or are we to might be too sceptical about it and  thus consider it a waste of time.  We should begin by asking ourselves if the moon landing was a waste of time?  Can a text read by multitudes, seen in movies, in the media and told of, which influenced countless people, not have credence for understanding the world, esp. concerning the images and ideas that preliterate through out?  Since the text actually influenced so many people at base level: being aware of it allows us to become more aware of how its ideas have influenced and shaped all that might surround us.  How does a text like this construct the meaning of myth itself and cause people to think in a certain way in their daily lives, how do people  sculpt their own metaphors and images of the self and the world simply based on being told of the story of this Oddesses?  We will call this a good beginning for the type of mind set one needs to start a fresh examination of such a profoundly influential text.