Summary
Summary The History of the Iliad
Notes on the history of the Iliad, the Homeric question, and oral composition.
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The History of the IliadThe composition of the Iliad
Introduction
Milman Parry’s 1930s research into oral poetry of Yugoslav bards
validated his theories that the Iliad and Odyssey developed in a style
which allowed illiterate singers to recall and narrate long epic narratives.
‘Analysts’ argue that the due to the oral tradition, the Iliad has lots of
authors who contributed to its evolving form through performances, and
the poem continued to change and be added to until a later date
(sometimes the 6th century is suggested).
‘Unitarians’ argue that the Iliad was refined and fixed by a single author
whom we might as well call Homer, who shaped oral legends into its
current form around the time writing was invented (with no major
changes made to it after the 7th century BC). They suggest that this would
explain the scale and structural sophistication of the poem.
The propagation of writing
An oral poem is by nature a single irreproducible performance – since the
poem would have varied each time it was sung/according to different
singers, the Iliad as a text in a sense can only have been ‘created’ when it
was first fixed in being written down.
On this view, we can think of Homer as the bard who performed the text
at point when it was fixed in writing, around the late 8 th century when
Greek use of Phoenician alphabet spread.
The Iliad 6.168-9 refers to the Bellerophon tablet as containing ‘baneful
signs’ – Homer seems to have been familiar with concept of alphabetic
writing, but is conscious of its anachronism to the past heroic age he is
describing (gives it a mystical, foreign quality).
Lord and Kirk argue that Homer must have dictated rather than writing,
due to the way that Yugoslav bards learning to read and write caused
their poetic style to change drastically. However, Parry Jr suggests
Homer could have been literate (the effect on the Yugoslav bards
ostensibly occurred due to them encountering and emulating other
writing such as newspapers, but Homer would not have had these kinds
of sources to emulate).
When was the Iliad written?
The Iliad in its current form was most likely written down very soon after
its composition (as it is extremely difficult to preserve a single definitive
version orally).
Certain passages probably became increasingly fixed in versions of the
Iliad’s oral predecessors, but it is unlikely that the oral transmission of its
current lengthy entirety was possible.
, Yugoslav poets notably told interviewers that the same poet can the
repeat virtually the same version of poem again, but it is impossible for
two poets to replicate the same version (errors, additions and omissions
inevitable). This would suggest the Iliad was not a consistent poem until
there was an authoritative written version.
Janko’s linguistic dating suggests the Iliad was composed and written
prior to the Odyssey rather than both texts being lexically fixed
simultaneously centuries later.
The emergence and sudden preservation of poems (Iliad and Odyssey
followed by the works of Hesiod), far longer and artistically superior to
those typically accommodated by limitations of improvised song, at same
time as alphabet is surely more than a coincidence. This would have
provided ideal conditions for a poet to transform existing oral poetry
traditions into a definitive literary form that nonetheless retained aspects
of the oral formulaic style.
Who gets credit?
Analysts: if a single poet did put the Iliad together in its present form, the
debt to oral tradition is so great that the Iliad should be attributed to
generations of bards before him.
However, Unitarians counterargue that these evolving earlier versions of
the Iliad were not really the same poem – they may have shared plot
details, but each performance would have been creatively extemporised,
meaning that the fixed version we have today is only one we can really
refer to as the Iliad.
Was Homer less of a bard and more a literary author who revised and
recorded the Iliad? The Iliad’s thematic unity and especially its complex
structural effects (e.g. use of ring composition and parallels) suggest the
aid of writing.
Oralists counterargue that poetry of great merit, length and
sophistication can be created orally, as indicated by the work of the
Yugoslav bards (such as Arvo Mededovic), and that the above are
subjective judgements.
However, the Iliad’s apparent ‘literariness’ arguably does not rest on
flawed claims about the general merit of its plot: what about its
structured and interlinked narrative, and the way dramatic scenes are
amplified by its self-referential style, ironic parallels and contrasts,
foreshadowing, and consistent portrayals of characters? Perhaps these
effects are more likely to require the skilful artistic construction most
likely of a single mind, and seem beyond the capabilities of the oral
tradition alone.
How do we explain apparent oddities and mistakes?
Use of catalogues: this was likely a common feature of poetry at this time.
The Iliad uses a formulary structure which is to be expected of orally
derived epic - Homer perhaps deliberately captured these oral
performative features for effect, meaning that the Iliad when recited
would still seem like a spontaneous performance.
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