This second volume continues the plan outlined in the first, the commentary itself being somewhat denser. Attention is increasingly drawn to typical motifs and themes, which become more marked from book 5 on. At the same time vol. I's emphasis on poetics, especially at the level of rhythm and diction, is maintained; and the analysis of character and motivation, as well as of divine involvement, becomes somewhat fuller than before. The four introductory chapters continue the progressive examination of the background to the Iliad; they will be complemented here and there in subsequent volumes, not least chapter I on Homeric religion. Reference to modern secondary literature, which some critics have found too slight, has been increased. Subsequent volumes will go further in this respect, although the principle stated in the editorial introduction to vol. I still applies, that neither complete bibliographical coverage nor a generally doxographical approach to Homeric interpretation is sought after.

Two amendments have been made to the list of essential aids (cf. vol. I, xxi). First, Dr Stephanie West's elucidation of Odyssey bks 1–4, in the revised, English version of the Odissea commentary overseen by Alfred Heubeck, is of exceptional value for many Homeric matters and is cited with corresponding frequency. Second, Ameis–Hentze's commentary, though obviously outmoded in certain respects, still contains much that is both acute and relevant, and in the present volume is cited on a par with Leaf. Other references to works in German are too few, but the influence of Burkert, Erbse, W. H. Friedrich, Latacz, Leumann, Meister, Trümpy and others (not to mention Dörpfeld and Korfmann), if not of Neoanalysis except at its broadest level, is plain enough.