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It is almost a commonplace in Homeric studies that the poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey is always ready to step back and allow his characters to speak for themselves. Each of the epics can indeed be characterized by the lengthy exchanges of talk that the poet recreates: quarrels, prayers, appeals, or supplications, for example. But communication may also be achieved in other ways, using non-verbal forms. This paper offers a study of a number of such instances in Homer's Iliad. I examine each one in its context in order to identify what is being communicated and to evaluate the non-verbal manner through which it is conveyed. And I ask why the poet occasionally chooses at this or that point of his tale to resist the spoken word, even though for the most part he embraces it. In assessing the contributions to the tale of these non-verbal moments I consider the economy of gesture -- the richness and the immediacy of the information that it conveys -- and the 'pictureability' and resulting memorability of universally recognized behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]