The proem of the Achilleid explicitly mentions Homeric poetry as a precursor in treating the deeds of Achilles:

Maeonio is a periphrastic but unambiguous reference to Homer (e.g. Hor. C. 1.6.2), and the Homeric frame is reinforced by the invocation that dubs the Muse a diva, a Latin translation for the goddess who appears at the start of the Iliad. Statius also claims that he wants to tell Achilles’ story without stopping at the dragging of Hector's body in the dust, one of the most prominent events in the Iliad. That the poet articulates his aims in seven verses and then turns to the divine source of his inspiration in the eighth verse (1.8. tu modo … Phoebe) mimics the structure of the proem of the Aeneid, but Virgil's preface reworks the proem of the Iliad and its own seven-verse opening sentence. In this regard, Statius operates within the tradition of the Homeric proem. The heroic context is also reinforced by words such as inclita, which is etymologically connected to the Greek kleos and cognate Homeric epithets, and acta, which recalls the exploits of famous Greeks such as the Argonauts (Val. Flac. 1.40) and Hercules (Ov. Met. 9.134, 247; Stat. Theb. 4.826).