Gregory Nagy 2017.01.20

This introduction is meant to be as brief as possible. Most of the background is given in “A sampling of comments on Iliad Rhapsody 1,” immediately below. Overall, the content that I offer in my samplings of comments on Iliad Rhapsody 1 through Iliad Rhapsody 24 is in no way intended to be viewed as a complete set of comments. As the title indicates, what follows is a mere sampling. Likewise, the Bibliography at the end is merely a sampling of secondary references to relevant work published on Homeric poetry. Those references, I should note, are confined almost exclusively to work that is relevant to my overall analysis of Homeric diction as a formulaic system, the evidence for which is preserved in the textual tradition of Homeric poetry. (On the terms Homeric diction and formulaic system, see at the end my Inventory of terms and names.) Accordingly, I have in this project deliberately refrained from tracking secondary references to published interpretations that seem to show no awareness of even the existence of such a formulaic system. In another project, however, I hope to prepare a more expansive bibliography that keeps track, critically, of such interpretations.