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We went at this one for the better part of a week in my last Greek Civ class. Yes, these were oral poems that at last somebody wrote down, my Professor's opinion being that it was probably two somebodies a half century or so apart (he joked that the second guy was Jethro and nobody got it). They were never performed twice precisely alike, but there are recurring phrases, e.g. "rosy-fingered dawn", that serve as memory anchors. That said, whoever did finally commit them to script was an artist of the highest order.

The Iliad, as the article indicates, is a beautiful poem of brutal and savage behavior, and it is very obvious that the narrator considers that the losers were the more civilized people: Priam, pleading with Achilles for the body of his son Hector, tore at Greek hearts (and presumably Greek consciences) as well as ours; what little redemption one finds in Achilles stems from his change of heart in the face of that honest grief. That did not stop the assembled horde from burning Troy and enslaving the survivors, nor from casting Hector's infant son from the walls. What is remarkable is not that this "happened", nor that it was recorded, what is remarkable is that the Greek audience considered it savagery themselves.

***That said, whoever did finally commit them to script was an artist of the highest order.***

I have read that the Greeks developed their alphabet just so these epic stories would not fade away.

...recurring phrases, e.g. "rosy-fingered dawn", that serve as memory anchors

Another explanation of these phrases, I think from Albert Lord's book, is that they fit into the pattern of rhythm for the poetry. "Wine-dark sea" likewise.