Can you sit down and enjoy an episode of Star Trek without knowing all the back story of Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, the Federation and all the rest of it? Of course you can, because you are familiar with the general idea of exploration, of a captain as an authority figure, of a problem that needs a solution within the time frame of the episode, etc.
In fact, if you were presented with a whole back story that you had to learn BEFORE you could watch that first episode, you might never bother to watch it at all. It is the interest in the characters and the action that inspires you to watch more and more, and thus to learn the back story as it is revealed.
The first two books of the Iliad stand on their own. You do not need to know all about the Apple of Discord, the sacrifice of Iphigenia, and all the rest of it in order to make sense of the action. It is after chapter two, when a student is starting to wonder just why Athena and Hera are so implacably opposed to the Trojans, that it makes sense to add the mythological context.
The Iliad plunges right in to a dramatic confrontation between two leaders who do not hesitate to tell each other exactly where to get off. If we as teachers get out of the way and let the poem speak for itself, the bright student will come looking for more background.
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