Homer's Iliad and Odyssey have generated more scholarly debate than perhaps any other texts from the ancient world. The 'Homeric question' — who composed them, when, how, and by what process — has never been fully resolved.

The oral-formulaic theory developed by Milman Parry and Albert Lord in the 20th century transformed the debate. Parry demonstrated that the Iliad and Odyssey show the structural features of oral-compositional poetry: repeated formulas, type-scenes, and an economy of expression suited to live performance rather than written composition.

The Mycenaean background is real but layered. Some elements in Homer — bronze weapons, chariot warfare, specific place-names — reflect genuine Bronze Age knowledge preserved in oral tradition. Other elements reflect the Iron Age world of the poems' composition. The world of the Iliad is an anachronistic mixture that cannot be mapped onto any single historical moment.

For ancient history purposes, the poems are most valuable not as records of events but as evidence for Greek values and worldview in the archaic period.