Interformulaic Homer: Evidence from the “Wild” Papyri

Abstract

Oral-formulaic theory saw in the Homeric formulas a system enabling singers to compose the epic tale while performing before an audience. Everything other than this situation was dismissed as “literate”, hence not relevant for the study of Homer as oral poetry. Today we are able to appreciate that “literacy” is not a monolithic concept, but culturally determined and embedded. The existence of texts changes, but does not end, the nature of Homer as oral poetry. In this paper I explore a number of ways in which the formulaic system is cognitively important in the presence of written texts of the epic. First, formula as formulas are a powerful aid in memorization and recall, which makes them indispensable not only for oral composition, but also for the performance of a written Homer. Second, the Homeric poems begin also to constitute a meta-language when phrases are used with full awareness of the context(s) in which they occurred previously. The conscious use of formulas as reference to other instances of the formula can be called “interformularity”.