The Prolegomena provide an introduction to the Basler Iliad commentary. The volume includes essays on the history of Iliad commentaries and the text, formulaic language and the oral tradition, grammar, meter, characters, plot and chronological structure, narrative technique, and developments in Homeric criticism, as well as an Index of Mycenaean words with brief explanations.

Contributions by: Anton Bierl, Fritz Graf, Irene de Jong, Joachim Latacz, Joachim Latacz, René Nünlist, Magdalene Stoevesandt, Rudolf Wachter, Martin L. West