The World of Odysseus

The World of Odysseus was written by Sir Moses I. Finley, and it is an in depth analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The period in history that helped to produce these two phenomenal works is veiled with uncertainty due to the fact that an actual written history doesn't exist. Homer put his history of the period together from the traditional custom of oral poetic story telling that originated from the late Dark Age and early Archaic Period. The first three chapters of Finley's text provide the reader with an understanding of the Greek world so the information presented in the fourth and fifth chapters is easier to understand.

The first chapter introduces the world of the Greeks, their exposure to writing, the importance of Homer, and the possibility that the two epics were written by two people. The text distinguishes that Homer actually was an actual historical figure, contrary to the belief of some scholars. Finley discusses where the Greeks came from and how they did not come in one massive, conquering movement. Actually, the Greeks and the other inhabitants did not realize what was happening at all when the migration was taking place. Language is another topic of discussion for Finley as he writes about the Greek language and its Indo-European family. The dialectical nature of the Greeks is also discussed because of the necessity for one to understand how the different polis around Greece were not unified. Yet, they established a universal alphabet that was initially adopted from the Phoenicians. Finley discusses the importance of myth through the progression of all great civilizations and how Homer and the Greeks were no different. For the Greek peoples myths were a ceremonial aspect in their culture, but their...

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...acked by the Achaeans. Finely also agrees that Homer or the Homers came at the end of a long oral tradition. Making our two poems neither histories or war records, and finally that the literary merits of the two Homeric poems do pertain to their historicity.

In conclusion, The World of Odysseus is M. I. Finley's analysis of social, economic, and political factors during the historical period in which Odysseus lived. Through five fascinating chapters, Finley provides information derived from careful analysis of the Homeric poems the Iliad and the Odyssey to reconstruct a complex Greek world. This world was pre-literate in the sense that historical records did not exist. For Finley, the two poems allow for an intricate portrayal of what it must have been like to be a Greek hero.

"The World of Odysseus" by Micheal A. Finley, paper written by Will Scott.