I think I know what you're talking about Mr. Pointy, and I think I agree with you.
I'm not sure you used the word you really wanted to when you say, "respect" though.
I think respect would refer more to the way Myth is integrated into the Buffyverse.
That's my opinion anyway.
Dwarfman, I want to make sure I'm talking about the same scene you are, concerning Diomedes. I always get names mixed up, and it's been years since I last read it.
I recall it like this.
It's the day of battle and the Greeks are a little hesitant about getting into it.
Achilles is still pouting about losing his slave girl, so he withdraws into his tent with his boyfriend, and refuses to join the battle.
The Greeks don't have a champion, but they have to fight. They're not crazy about the idea, though.
The battle begins and all of a sudden the young Diomedes is everywhere hacking and whacking his way through Trojans like a sickle through weeds, bashing heads with large rocks, and Homer uses the phrase "Black blood" a lot.
Diomedes becomes totally battle-crazed, and begins to feel invincible. He wants Hector, but he can't get at him. He winds up battling alongside this river, and he meets a God.
The two start trash talking each other. Diomedes won't show the God respect. The God gets pissed, and the 2 of them get into it. In my warped memory it's a magnificent battle.
Is that the same thing you're thinking of more or less?
BTW another thing I hope they don't lose from the epic is the way Homer both glorifies war, and speaks against it. It's just not going to have the same feel, if they slant it too hard in either direction.
They're calling it Troy and not The Iliad though, so I'm not optimistic.
