SNA and the Iliad - or: If Achilles used Facebook...

When you read or watched the last time a fairy tale, a myth, a legend or even an epic? Do you remember the fantastic world you were diving into, how inspiring it was to you and what feelings you had? 
On that emotional level of talking about great historical works we are not separated so far from our ancestors, hundreds or even thousands of years ago: It was all about entertainment and a fantastic performance when listening to the performing artist singing(!) the Iliad. 
In those days (ca. 700 BC?) when good old Homer scribbled down the Iliad and the Odyssey, the legends already had had a long oral tradition and captivated or inspired myriads of listeners even until the end of the Middle Ages and beyond. No doubt, the influence of these epics on european culture (and all nations influenced by Europe throughout the history) can hardly be overestimated. One might not go wrong in assuming, that for a proper understanding of european culture you only need two books: The Iliad and the Holy Bible.

On a more academic level of engagement the question may arise, how much "real history" lies behind these scenes. Posing these question might be even more relevant, when nowadays packing your backpack, traveling to Turkey and staying in front of the remains of what is supposed to be Troy. For sure you can imagine, that finding convincing answers is far from simple. But the fascination of those old days still remains, when Heinrich Schliemann (starting 1870) went to that place with the Iliad in one hand and the shovel in the other, ready to find new pieces of jewelry for his beloved wife. 

New approaches to bridge the gap between the fantastic illusionary world in the epics and the real facts behind are coming from recent research, which uses Social Network Analysis to reconstruct the different societies (and their constitution) occurring in the Iliad, Beowulf or the irish epic Tain. 

The following article gives a brief introduction and description to the approach.

Dont hesitate to read the article and be surprised what you can do with SNA. But even more important: grab one of those amazing old epics and start to dive into these worlds, be captured ... and learn a lot about yourself!