Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

J.A. Davison. "Thucydides, Homer, and the `Achaean Wall'." Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 6:5-28.

During a discussion of the origin and history of the passage in Book 7 of the Iliad on the building of the wall, an occasion for considering the textual genesis and development of Homeric epic as a whole, he posits a Homer who deliberately designed the Iliad as six groups of four books apiece, "with the intention that it should be recited to a festival audience over a period of three days, with two sessions each day, by a team of four reciters, each of whom was to recite one `book' in each session" (24 ). Imagines Homer composing several oral versions before "he and his amanuenses (were they the three other members of the team?) set to work on the production of a `stabilized' text in writing" (26).
Area: AG