The Aeolian Gamma-tradition (free PDF here) is a Homeric oral tradition that developed in the Greek Dark Ages, when Aeolian Greek settlers colonized the region around Troy. Rather than a historical War of Troy, the mythologization of the new homeland was responsible for the stories around Troy and the Trojan Cycle. Curiously, the Aeolian Gamma-tradition is also connected to the Greek colonies in Italy. Roman mythology and the Aeneid of Virgil appear not to be based on Greek mythology and Homer in general, but more specifically on the Aeolian Gamma-tradition. Furthermore, there are the influences of several often-international story types, such as the destruction story, the tele-story, the monster story, and the savior story. The intertextuality of the Aeolian Gamma-tradition in Homer, the Trojan Cycle, the Argonautica, Vergil, and the Old and New Testament is investigated.
The Aeolian Gamma-tradition is the third in the series of Homeric traditions. It is the one that I discovered as the latest in its full extent, even though certain patterns were already present in what I once called the Apollo-tradition (and the god Apollo is indeed an oral characteristic of the Aeolian Gamma-tradition). The reason why this oral tradition is so difficult to discover is that both the Mykenaean Alpha-tradition and the European Beta-tradition are heavily mixed into this tradition.
The title of the book about the Aeolian Gamma-tradition is: “The Gamma-tradition: on the origin of Roman stories.” It is available for purchase as a paperback on Amazon.
Cite:
Blondé, Ward. The Gamma Tradition: on the origin of Roman stories, Middletown, DE: Amazon Independent Publishing Platform, 2020.