"In the Iliad, the position of the narrator in relation to the events he tells can be pinpointed with surprising accuracy. When the poet says 'on the left' or 'on the right' for example, he always looks at the action on the battlefield from the same vantage point: he keeps his back to the sea, facing the plain and the city of Troy beyond it. The curved coastline, with its beached Achaean ships, is arranged before him 'like a theatre', as an ancient scholar put it. When the poet speaks in his own voice, 'left' and 'right' always indicate he is viewing the action from that position. By contrast, when a Trojan character speaks, 'right' and 'left' are reversed. Although some scholars insist on the poet's even-handed treatment of Trojans and Achaeans in the poem, it follows that he quite literally views the war from the Achaeans' side. His position anchors the narrative and makes it possible for him, and indeed for us, to gain a clear picture of how the action unfolds."
– Barbara Graziosi, Homer: A Very Short Introduction (2019)
