Epic Name-Calling

In Greek epic it was common to refer to people by epithet --- a descriptive catch-phrase. Athena is variously flashing-eyed, bearer of the aegis, civilizer of men, etc. Much of the power and compactness of Homer's diction derives from this use of the epithet. The Homeric epithets have been shown to have important metrical, and probably also mnemonic, functions in the verse. The latter is particularly important considering the task of reciting/improvising tens of thousands of lines of poetry for a pre-literate but critical audience. For a lovely introduction to this area see especially the first chapter of Beye .

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