The homeric narrator as a mediator between the world of the heroes and the world of the audience

Abstract

The objective of this research is to focus on the homeric narrator in order to discuss aspects of the Iliad that can be conceived as narrative and poetic tools used by archaic rhapsodes in the context of the performance of early Greek epic poetry. To this end, we will analyze scenes in which gods are employed as a metapoetic device, especially those in which they appear as an audience of the narrated events, the ekphrasis of Achilles' shield, the mentions, by the narrator, to "men such as they are now" (nyn brotoi) and "men of former days" (andres proteroi) and similes. We submit that these tools allow us to see how the rhapsode interacts with his audience and how, in the poem, he conceives the difference between the world of the heroes and the world of his public. (AU)