THE SCENE: When Achaean and Trojan forces agree to a temporary truce, they seal the deal with the strongest – and I mean the strongest – oaths that they could think of.
THE TEXT: On those terms he dragged his ruthless dagger across the lambs’ throats and let them fall to the ground, dying, gasping away their life breath, cut short by the sharp bronze. Then dipping up the wine from the mixing bowls, brimming their cups, pouring them on the earth, men said their prayers to the gods who never die. You could hear some Trojan or Achaean calling, “Zeus – god of greatness, god of glory, all you immortals! Whichever contenders trample on this treaty first, spill their brains on the ground as this wine spills – theirs, their children’s too – their enemies rape their wives!”
– The Iliad, Homer, 8th Century BC
