Oral history is im portant for still another reason. Recalling m em orable events that will never be inscribed in history books, it rem inds us that history is the story of the lives of hum an beings
Oral history makes you remember that every story came from a person and nothing was just merely made out of thing air.
The Iliad probably had been recited for years before it w as w ritten dow n
The Iliad that is heard today is probably different from what was originally told. This reminds me of a game that my campers and I played called 'telephone' where you would whisper something into the persons ear next to you and then that person would pass it on to the person next to them and so on. When the message would get passed on to the last person it would usually be different from what the person that started the message said. Sometimes it would be completely different and sometimes it would be the same or similar.
Pre-literate or non-literate peoples throughout the w orld have depended upon the oral tradition to transm it their culture from one generation to another.
Pen and paper isn't needed to transfer stories. People will always find a way to get their message heard.