In this article we reconsider Homer’s poetry in the light of modern achievements in neuroscience. This perspective offers some clues for examining specific patterns of brain functioning. Homer’s epics, for instance, painted a synthetic picture of the human body, emphasizing some parts and neglecting others. This led to the formation of a body schema reminiscent of a homunculus, which we call the “Homeric homunculus.” Both poems were largely the product of centuries of oral tradition, in which the prodigious memory of courtly rhapsodists was essential to the performance of the epics. The underlying cognitive functions required a close interplay of memory and language skills, supported by the musical and rhythmic cadence of Homeric verse.

在本文中，我们根据神经科学的现代成就重新考虑荷马的诗歌。这种观点为检查大脑功能的特定模式提供了一些线索。例如，荷马的史诗描绘了人体的合成画面，强调了某些部分而忽略了其他部分。这导致了一个让人联想到人造人的身体图式的形成，我们称之为“荷马人造人”。这两首诗在很大程度上是几个世纪口头传统的产物，其中宫廷狂想曲家的惊人记忆对于史诗的表演至关重要。潜在的认知功能需要记忆和语言技能的密切相互作用，荷马诗歌的音乐和节奏节奏支持。