Narrative method has long been a central issue in Homeric scholarship, since Analysts relied on narrative difficulties to identify earlier levels, while Unitarians responded by claiming that an understanding of Homer’s narrative rules would explain inconsistencies. More recently, oral poetry and structuralist narratology have contributed to more understanding of Homer’s narrative techniques. Yet even while scholars have treated Homeric narrative as problematic, readers have been moved by the poems.

To the Greeks of the eighth century, epic presented a remote, splendid, shared past. Heroic stories were a valuable cultural resource; they provided entertainment, historical continuity and a method of ethical thought. Epic performance was an especially important vehicle for transmitting these tales: at a successful performance, everyone shared in excitement, sorrow and admiration, making the occasion a source of social cohesion. The familiarity of the main characters and stories, reinforced by epic’s conservative language and style, offered stability in a changing world, while the flexibility of performance meant that the stories could be adapted to their immediate contexts.