As a lay person, I typically think of earlier time periods, such as the Victorians, as having "more delicate sensibilities". Things that would be considered racy or obscene by their standards seem commonplace today. Our entertainment- Game of Thrones, House of Cards, etc.- show moral decay, violence, and vulgarity to such degrees that I have a hard time imagining their existing earlier.

This brings me to The Iliad. I'm reading it now, and it is a tough poem. There are hundreds of deaths in here, and they're pretty graphic. Here's one example:

With that he hurled and Athena drove the shaft

and it split the archer's nose between the eyes-

it cracked his glistening teeth, the tough bronze

cut off his tongue at the roots, smashed his jaw

and the point came ripping out beneath his chin.

See? This poem is really brutal. Did people from earlier times shy away from The Iliad due to its brutality. Did it's status as a central piece of history and art to Western Civilization give it leeway that commercial entertainment would not have had? Were there attempts to censure it, or to make it softer?

Or, am I totally misguided in my perception of earlier times. Were they perfectly accepting of and able to handle graphic art? For specifics, I guess let's stick with the Victorians. But, I am interested to hear what people from different time periods had to say about it.