and other related fields and a basic concept for the study of culture in a historical and critical perspective. Its definition has long been debated, as has its communicative value and use. This volume presents different perspectives and academic fields (classics, byzantine studies, folklore studies, comparative literature) and discusses topics such as interrelationship with written literature, cross-cultural and trans-historical influences, different genres, as well as specific narrators and their role in their communities. Orality is viewed as a tool for research, a body of texts, an entity of vernacular practices, or as a series of communication strategies.