Homer and the Resources of Memory: Some Applications of Cognitive Theory to the Iliad and the Odyssey

This study shows that the demands made on Homer, who relies neither on rote memory nor on written notes, have led him to adopt certain memory-based strategies which have left their traces in the text. What we discover is that the poet in an oral tradition makes intense and creative use of those resources of memory, which are available to us all--episodic memory, auditory memory, visual memory, and spatial memory--to assist him both in the preparation of his song and at the moment of performance.