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The author focuses her attention on the main definitions of the Greek literary tradition for social mediators: καταρτιστήρ, διαλλακτήρ (διαλλακτή"), α’ισυμνήτη". Analyzing the evidence of the tradition the author makes an attempt to answer the following questions: to whom the ancient tradition applied these definitions, and respectively were they used as synonyms or not, what was the difference between their usage and what it could imply and upon what it could depend.

There is one passage in the Iliad, mentioning Neoptolemos (XIX.326-327). However some authors, including Martin L. West, consider it to be a late insertion and suppose that Homer was not aware of the story about this hero. But an analysis of a few other passages from the epic (IX.667-668, XXII.66-71, XXIV.764-767) allows us to make the opposite conclusion: tradition about Neoptolemos indeed appeared before the Iliad.

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