So homer checks out from a social network analysis perspective, how about that other fable, the bible? Anyone?

We managed to build and analyze a social network gathered across the classical epic, Odyssey of Homer. Longing for further understanding, topological quantities were collected in order to classify its social network qualitatively into real or fictional. It turns out that most of the found properties belong to real social networks besides assortativity and giant component’s size. In order to test the network’s possibilities to be real, we removed some mythological members that could imprint a fictional aspect on the network. Carrying on this maneuver the modified social network resulted on assortative mixing and reduction of the giant component, as expected for real social networks. Overall, we observe that Odyssey might be an amalgam of fictional elements plus real based human relations, which corroborates other author’s findings for Iliad and archaeological evidences.

The same thing is true for viking sagas:

Njal’s Saga has an average of 4 new characters every page. Whereas modern fiction tries to make sure you can keep track of everyone, with the exception of maybe Game of Thrones. That density of characters, and the realism of their networks, suggest a different purpose for literature than might be the case now — the creation of portraits of societies, rather than portraits of individuals.

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