In this essay (which is part of a broader, ongoing research project) the author deploys the methodological tools of reception aesthetics in order to analyze the poetics of the ancient "aoidos" (as it can be reconstructed from the poems of Homer and Hesiod especially). Since its inception, Greek literature betrayed an awareness of the fundamental tenet of "Rezeptionsforschung": the need to determine the meaning of a text on the basis of its readers' reactions. Homeric descriptions of the "aoidos'" performances can, in fact, be considered the earliest implicit evidence of what will later be termed "Wirkung" aesthetics.
From this vantage point, our purpose is, then, to verify whether the aforementioned descriptions possess the characterizing theoretical features of what we could call "a paleoaesthetics of reception", since it originates from one of the most evocative early phases of Western literature. This is the goal of our broader research project, and the present volume examines the data regarding the typology of the "aoidos'" audiences, as it emerges chiefly from an analysis of Phemius' performances in the First Book of the Odyssey. Phemius' performances are no less interesting or paradigmatic than Demodocus'. On the contrary, they reveal even more clearly, in some ways, that the oral and acoustic qualities of the poetry of the "aoidos" did not blunt personality of the bard, nor did they prevent the development of an artistic awareness rooted precisely in the ability to anticipate and steer the reactions of the audience.