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14
KamilaKowalczyk
ThroughoutIliadHomermaintainsastrictobservanceoftheruleswhileaddress-
ingadeity,havinginmindthesadfateofThamyris.
Whenitcomestothefundamentalaspectofanancientepicnarrative1the
performance1theinvocationsthepoetmakesservefewpracticalfunctions.First
ofall,theyconfirmtherelationshipbetweenthepoetandhisMuse.Thepoettran-
scendshumanlimitations,inordertocommunicatewiththegoddess.Secondly,by
breakingthenarrative,invocationsalerttheaudience,andpreparethelistenersfor
whatwillcomenext13.Moreover,theyexpressthebeliefthattheMuseisasource
ofinspirationfortheepic1sheistheteacher,andtheone,whoincitesthebard
tosing.Finally,eachinvocationconfirmsthestory’sextraordinarycharacterand
legitimisestheculturalcontentofthepoem.
ThepassagesofIliadandOdysseyemphasiseacloselinkbetweeninspira-
tionandknowledge.Bothepicpoemsaretopreservegloryofoldheroes(KλέO
ἀνδρῶν),fromaccountsgatheredwiththeaidofMuses.However,asthedaugh-
tersofΜεpνoσυή,theirrelationtothisparticulargoddessbringsupanotherinter-
estingaspectoftheirrelationshipwiththepoet,whichlaysinthespecificnature
ofinspirationtheygranthim.TheconnectionbetweenMusesandmemory,isto
befoundthroughoutancientliterature,forexampleinHesiodandinPlato,but
alreadyHomerattributestheabilityofmemorisingtotheMusesinIl.2.492ε.pὴ
ὈλυpπiάδεgΜooσOiΔiὸgO.γiόχoioGυγOtέρεgpνησO{OG΄ὅσoiὑπὸἼλioνἦλGoν.
Thiscommemorativefunctionstrengthenstheprimarytaskofepicpoetry,which
isconservationofKλέOἀνδρῶν.Memoryalsoconstitutestheverymodeinwhich
oralpoetryiscreated.Withoutthisabilitynooralcompositioncouldbeevencon-
ceivable.
ThepoetaddressestheMuseduringthecourseofIliadandintheoutsetof
Odysseyaskingforhelpinnarratingtotheaudienceaccurateinformation,orwhen
heseemstohaveproblemswiththecompositionofaparticularpassage,butheis
neverportrayedasapassiverecipientoramouthpiece.Theirrelationshipisofan
intellectualnature.Surely,shecommunicateswithhim,butnevershesendshim
intothestateofecstasy1everytimeacontactismade,thepoetmaintainshisac-
tivepartinthecompositionofthepoem.Theinvocationsconfirmthatthesource
ofhispoetryisdivine,butthepoetremains,atthesametime,consciousofhisown
contributionintheprocessofcomposition.
13ForamoredetailedanalysisoftheperformativeaspectsofHomer’sinvocationssee:
E.Minchin:“ThePoetAppealstoHisMuse:HomericInvocationsintheContextofEpicPerform-
ance”.CJ1995,Vol.26,91.1.
