• Catalogs and lists
  
• book 2, catalog of ships, is the longest, but there are many other much smaller instances
  
• "catalog" just means a list.
• lists have traits, structure. What is included as well as what is omitted. What order. Who is telling. Who is listening. Context.
  
• lists of warriors, lists of ...
  
• Aristeia: scenes of major warrior prowess
  
• Characteristic elements, each of which is a sort of smaller type-scene in itself: arming, minor deeds, setbacks, vaunting, major deed(s) (usually killing big enemies), stripping armor, protecting corpses, conversing with ally/enemy, etc.
  
• some one or more of the typical elements can be missing
  
• Major Aristeiai scenes
  
• Diomedeia: book 5 : against Aineias
• Book 5 also has a nice one early on where each of the Greek leaders, one after another, kills an enemy.
  
• Agamemnon: book 11
• Patroklos: book 16
• Achilles: book 20-21
• There are many more, some quite brief (when it's just one otherwise rarely mentioned warrior killing another one, we can still call it an aristeia (why not?)).
  
• Descriptions of objects: ecphrasis is the word used for this when the object gets a detailed description
  
• of armor and weapons
  
• careful description of both the armor and weapons
• also how they are put on
  
• also, their history
  
• this can be part of a larger type scene, such as an aristeia
  
• most famous is the new shield of Achilles, a huge long description
  
• of other items
• cups
• carpets
• scepters
• goatskin (of Athena)
  
• etc. etc.
• elements of these include not just description of the thing, but also history and provenance and materials (and their provenance) for many things
• Death scenes
• Minor deaths:
  
• an otherwise unmentioned character is killed by a major character
• a simile or a reference to his home life and family occurs,
  
• the manner of his death is given precisely (what weapon, where it entered, etc.)
• Major deaths: Sarpedon, Hector, etc.
  
• Embassy scenes
• Odysseus and others visit Achilles to ask him to accept Agamemnon's gifts and rejoin the fight
• Chryses comes to ransom his daughter
• etc.
  
• Depictions of rhapsodes/bards/singers of tales within the epic:
• in general, even aside from occurrence in type-scenes, watch for characters who sing tales
• Achilles was singing to a lyre a tale of heroes when the other Greeks came to visit and ask him to rejoin the fight
• what do these tales/scenes say about the song of Iliad itself? anything?
  
• Also tales told, stories not sung with an instrument
• Nestor speaks of his youth in book 11.669 ff
• how is the story employed by Nestor: why does he tell it? that could be a clue as to the "meaning" of tales in general: what they are used for within the epic.
  
• the story of the Kalydonian boar hunt occurs as a mini-epic within the epic
• Agamemnon sees Diomedes and proceeds to recount his father Tydeus' major deeds in the past
  
• in Odyssey, many tales are told by Odysseus.
• Other type scenes:
• Feasting
• preparing a meal
  
• Embarkation/Departure
• Debarkation/Arrival
• landing a ship
• greeting (hand cup of wine to another, welcoming/farewell words, prayer, invitation to libate/pray)
  
• Supplication
• Dreams
• Omens (omen is sought or appears, sender stated, description of the sign, observers' reactions, emotion identified, interpretation, reaction to interpretation)
  
• Sacrifice
• libations (typically involves proposal to libate, wash hands, pray, pour out the libation, god's reaction)
  
• Assembly
• Oath-taking
• Sleeping
• Deliberation
• Bathing
• Dog-at-the-door (5 times in Odyssey)
  

Possible things to think about when looking at a type scene:

• Components
• What are the typical things present in the type scene? For it to be a type-scene, there have to be typ-ical elements.
  
• Are they always present?
• Which ones are optional?
• Are they all optional, but some combination of them must be present?
  
• Do they occur in a typical sequence?
• Do they use the same language/formulae (insofar as you can tell from the translation: just assume the translation is accurate)
• Usually, if it's really what I would call a "type-scene," you can easily imagine other ways of telling the same things that would not fit the "type": for an arming scene, for instance, why is it never the case that they can't find their other greave, or why is it the case that their armor is always in working order, not busted, or why don't they put things on in a different order, or why isn't the way they armed themselves described after they die, etc.
  
• Length
• These scenes are expandable into long passages (deaths, descriptions of armor, etc.), but may also be very very short
  
• Are other scenes of the same type longer/shorter? What makes them longer/shorter?
• Are smaller parts expanded or contracted compared to other scenes of the same type?
• Context
• Does the type scene you are looking at usually occur in the same context?
• What typically comes before it?
  
• After it?
• What is it accomplishing in terms of plot, characterization, etc.
  
• Manipulation of the components/context
• How does the scene you are looking at differ from others of its kind?
• Differences stand out: what do these differences do for the narrative? Do they add emphasis? Do they draw attention to something?
  

How to think of type scenes within the Homeric fabric:

• Formulae are lego blocks at the level of lines: each formula fits in a specific part of the line, the beginning, the middle, or the end.
• Type scenes are similar, but on a scale at least a couple levels bigger: type scenes fit together like lego as well. They have a particular shape and makeup that makes them fit the narrative at certain points, and they have a typical set of elements and order of exposition that would, naturally, make it easy for a bard to know what to do next without much mental energy.
• There are large units too, such as the Aristeiai, which are also type-scenes, but so large that they themselves are composed of type-scenes.
• And then there is the overall plot: the rage of Achilles, the death of Patroklos, Achilles' return to battle, etc.

Between type scenes and unique scenes, there is a slippery slope: presumably, some type scenes have few instances, and some don't have a readily identified finite set of elements, etc. (To some degree, I am speculating here, based on impression: I have not gone thru the whole epics to list out and analyze this well enough).

Unique scenes:

• Doloneia
• night-time expedition of Diomedes and Odysseus
• book 10
• but is it unique: think of that guy whom Achilles kills by the river who the narrator says had been captured by Achilles on a night raid previously. Isn't that a parallel? albeit a really tiny one-line one.
  
• Teichoscopia
• Helen points out Greek heroes for Priam: 3.121-244
• Note that Helen is thus the "author" or "deliverer" of a catalog
• There are several others that should be added here...

"motifs" and "tropes"

• There are smaller recurrent units, such as Homeric similes, statements like "no men of today could ...", "but that prayer was not to be granted."
• They are also "stereotyped," but are not expandable and contractable, and they don't have the same sort of pattern of several typical elements as what we are here calling "type scenes."
  

"narrative patterns"

• There are also "themes" or "motifs" that recur in stories around the world: these are different from "type-scenes" in that they don't have a formulaic structure (repeated elements and sequencing), but rather are part of the structure of the narrative, the plot:
• return home
• often includes
  
• disguise
• deceptive story
• turnaround/recognition
• exile
• go on a journey
• stranger arrives
• These are often told via type-scenes, but there is a distinction:
• a type scene has to be "stereotyped" i.e. identifiable as similar to other scenes in its elements/structure/wording, whereas 2 instances of a narrative pattern of returning home, for instance, may not share typical elements or structure or wording in a way that involves identifiable type scenes and yet still be the same narrative pattern.
• the same narrative pattern may be deployed in very different ways in different cultures in different parts of the world: that is not true of the type scene.
• The type scene is specific to a given tradition (but it maybe shared across works, such as Iliad and Odyssey even if they are by different authors/ singers).
  

• The biggest element that is somewhat missing here on this page is guest-friendship and how it plays into type scenes: there is a clear code of how to act when visiting or being visited by a guest-friend. A sequence of actions. There are type-scenes or at least typical elements that recur. Even when they are violated, that can be an instance of recurrence, because the violation can have consequences.
• Guest-friendship is very important in Iliad, but it is even more important in Odyssey, so we'll return to talk about it there.