As I read The Odyssey, it truly astounds me how ancient storytellers were able to memorize such long works of epic poetry and repeat them, verbatim, whenever they were required to. If you were to look through these works, especially The Iliad, it is almost shocking how many minute details are scattered throughout. A character may be introduced in one sentence and in the following sentences his entire life story will be told... We will be told about how he grew up on the countryside and that he is the only son in the family, the pride and joy of his father, who also happens to be a famous warrior from many years past… And then in the very next sentence, the character will be brutally slain (with incredibly close attention to detail) by some form of large weaponry wielded by a famous warrior. These little side-stories, at some times, seem almost unnecessary and superfluous. However, they greatly emphasize just how much skill and dedication the storytellers were required to have in order to tell them. It is almost comical to juxtapose the memorization skill of ancient people to that of modern students. Nowadays, many students complain if they are required to memorize a simple five-minute speech for an English class. I actually have a decent amount of experience with this myself; I was on my high school’s speech team and I was involved in numerous theatrical productions at my high school and at a local community theatre. I know firsthand that memorizing lines is a real pain to do. I have such immense respect for ancient storytellers because I know that I, personally, would never be able to memorize even one Homeric epic, while they were able to memorize multiple. Clearly, Ancient Greek storyteller is not in my list of possible future career choices.
It is almost comical to juxtapose the memorization skill of ancient people to that of modern students. Nowadays, many students complain if they are required to memorize a simple five-minute speech for an English class. I actually have a decent amount of experience with this myself; I was on my high school’s speech team and I was involved in numerous theatrical productions at my high school and at a local community theatre. I know firsthand that memorizing lines is a real pain to do. I have such immense respect for ancient storytellers because I know that I, personally, would never be able to memorize even one Homeric epic, while they were able to memorize multiple. Clearly, Ancient Greek storyteller is not in my list of possible future career choices.