In Homer's Iliad, what is the narrator's point of view?

The narration of the Iliad takes place in the third-person omniscient, which means the narrator is not within the story but is looking at it as an objective outsider. Some have speculated that the narrator is supposed to be a stand-in for Homer himself, which is probably correct, as throughout the Iliadreaders are given small glimpses into the knowledge given to the narrator by the muse. Instead of focusing on the inner thoughts of...

The narration of the Iliad takes place in the third-person omniscient, which means the narrator is not within the story but is looking at it as an objective outsider. Some have speculated that the narrator is supposed to be a stand-in for Homer himself, which is probably correct, as throughout the Iliad readers are given small glimpses into the knowledge given to the narrator by the muse. Instead of focusing on the inner thoughts of specific characters, the narrator darts between the actions of each character, mortal or divine, and tells the reader of what is going on with both the Trojans and the Achaeans. So, the narrator is not a character within the events described in the narrative, but someone who has come into knowledge of the events and the characters involved after they occurred.