From a historical research perspective, both the Homeric poems and the Mahābhārata pose significant challenges while also offering invaluable insights into the worlds of Archaic Greece and ancient South Asia. Since the beginnings of modern historical scholarship, the relationship between the worlds depicted in these epics and the historical realities of their respective periods has remained a central concern. This project examines how the Odyssey and the Virāṭaparvan (within the broader context of the Mahābhārata) construct a vision of the heroic past while subtly engaging with the realities of their audiences. Despite their differences, both texts share important narrative and poetic features.

The project aims to explore how these texts create and negotiate the tension between a stylised heroic world and the contemporary experiences of their audiences. This approach challenges traditional explanations of apparent anachronisms in the texts, suggesting that some inconsistencies are better understood as literary effects rather than as evidence of a multilayered compositional history. The central hypothesis is that the poets deliberately incorporated elements that resonated with their audiences, thereby creating thematic and emotional bridges between the epic past and and their contemporary world. From this perspective, such features should be interpreted not as inconsistencies, but as purposeful literary strategies.

Scientific supervision on behalf of the faculty – prof. dr hab. Marek Węcowski