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One reason The Iliad is a living story to us now is that the people are real according to our sense of how they think and behave. We recognize the story Homer is telling about warrior honor, but we also see the pettiness and jealousy that coexist with that.
Similarly, I see two stories regarding women. They're chattel, but they're also the cause of so much of the action. It's an issue regarding women that kicks off the story, it's Thetis who moves Zeus, and let's not forget that the abduction of Helen (through the agency of Venus) started the war.
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