Throughout Homer's epic poems, many patronymics are utilized to provide more information about a character. A patronymic is used to establish a character's lineage and family, or could be used to describe how the character came to be who they are (Belarde). This was beneficial to Homer's audiences in ancient Greece because they would have been familiar with the poems that preceded the one being told. A patronymic would allow the audience to understand the relationships between different characters in different poems.
Belarde, Victoria. "The Rationale of Epithets and The Irrational of Patronymics." Harvard University. Web. 18 Feb. 2015. .