The World of Odysseus 9781590170175, 1590170172

Citation preview

M.LFINLEY

THE WORLD OF

ODYSSEUS

"REVISED EDITIO

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2010

http://www.archive.org/details/worldofodysseusOOfinl

PELICAN BOOKS

THE WORLD OF ODYSSEUS York City in 1912. He a Ph.D. in ancient history at Columbia University. After working as research assistant in Roman law at Columbia University in 1933-4, he became editor and translator at the Institute of Social Research (then affiliated with Columbia University) and taught history at the City College of New York. He was Assistant Professor Of History at Rutgers University from 1948 to 1952. In 1955 he became a lecturer in the Faculty of Classics at Cambridge University and two years later was elected a Fellow of Jesus College. He became Reader in Ancient Social and Economic History there in 1966 and has been Professor of Ancient History since 1970 and Master of Darwin College since 1976. In 1971 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy. Professor Finley contributes articles and reviews to learned journals and to literary weeklies in England and the United States.

M.

I.

Finley

was born

obtained an M.A.

in

in

New

public law and

He is the author of Studies in Land and Credit in Ancient Athens (1952), The Ancient Greeks (1963) Aspects of Antiquity (1968, second edition 1977), Ancient Sicily to the Arab Conquest (1968), Early Greece: The Bronze and Archaic Ages (1970), Democracy Ancient and Modern (1973), The Ancient Economy (1973), The Use and Abuse of History (1975), Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology (1980), co-author (with H. W. Pleket) of The Olympic Games: The First Thousand Years (1976), editor of The Portable Greek Historians: The Essence of Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Polybius (1959), and editor of the series Ancient Culture and Society ,

(since 1969).

M.

I.

FINLEY

THE WORLD OF ODYSSEUS SECOND EDITION

PENGUIN BOOKS

Penguin Books Ltd, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England Penguin Books, 625 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10022, U.S.A. Penguin Books Australia Ltd, Ringwood, Victoria, Australia

Penguin Books Canada Limited, 2801 John

Street,

Markham, Ontario, Canada L3R B4 Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, 1

Auckland

10,

New

Zealand

published in the United States of America by The Viking Press 1954 Revised Edition first published in the United States of America by Viking Compass 1965 Reprinted 1967 (twice) 1968, 1970, 1972 (twice) 1974, 1976 Second Revised Edition first published in the United States of America by The Viking Press 1978 Published in Pelican Books in the United States of America 1979 Reprinted 1980, 1982 First

,

Revised Edition

first

,

published in Great Britain by

Chatto& Windus 1956 Published in Pelican Books in Great Britain 1962 Reprinted with revisions 1967, 1972 Second Revised Edition first published in Great Britain by Chattofc Windus 1978 Published in Pelican Books in Great Britain 1979

Copyright 1954 by M. I. Finley M. I. Finley, 1956. 1965, 1977, 1979 Copyright

©

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America by Offset Paperback Mfrs, Inc., Dallas. Pennsylvania Set in Baskerville

Except in the United States of America, book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, this

be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

For Mary

— again

CONTENTS Preface

P*g*

Map i

.

9

12-13

Homer and

the Greeks

15

2.

Bards and Heroes

26

3.

Wealth and Labour

5*

4.

Household, Kin, and Community

5.

Morals and Values

Appendix

I

Appendix

II

The World of Odysseus

74 108

Revisited 142

Schliemann's Troy- -One Hun-

dred Years After

159

Bibliographical Essay

178

Index of Passages Quoted

186

General Index

189

PREFACE awkward for an author to preface the new edition of a book which has frequently been reprinted, in ten languages, since its original publication twenty-two years ago; which has been cited, discussed, attacked in innumerable books and articles, and which has been the acknowledged starting-point of studies by other historians of society and of ideas. It would be wrong to pull the text apart in order to argue the methodological issues the book has raised, rather by implication, or other controversial topics. For such matters, the reader is referred to the two Appendices which are new in this edition It is

and

to the bibliographical essay at the end.

The

text itself

must stand on

its

own and remain what

it

has always been, a picture of a society, based on a close reading of the Iliad and Odyssey, supported by study of other societies to help elucidate obscure points in the

poems. The

social

and values make up a coherent system, and, from our present outlook, a very alien one, but neither an improbable nor an unfamiliar one in the experience of modern anthropology. That the ancient Greeks in subsequent centuries and classicists in the nineteenth century were unable to comprehend it without resorting to allegory and symbolic 'interpretation' is institutions

irrelevant. It

is

equally beside the point that the narrative

is

a collection of fictions from beginning to end.

Homeric scholarship has become notorious

for its

unmanage-

able quantity, further multiplied by a sea of publications following Michael Ventris's decipherment of the Linear tablets.

A

few experts have read more of

Mycenaean, than

I

new

stretches,

B

Homeric and

have, regularly and systematically, in the

past quarter-century, but there cannot be this

it,

many.

If,

therefore,

edition does not appear to be very different in long

an explanation

is

required.

anything merely in the interest of

I

have not rewritten improvement, or

stylistic

PREFACE just in order to rewrite.

information or

new

seemed relevant

have corrected errors, added new when they were known to me and account. However, I have found no I

insights

my

to

cause to alter in any essentials the three substantive chapters;

on the contrary, the picture In

my

drew

I

in those chapters has, I

been further confirmed by more recent scholarship.

believe,

presidential address to the Classical Association in 1974

(Appendix I) I said that I proposed to re-examine in particular the account of the common people in Chapter 3. Even there, in the end, I found no better or alternative formulation beyond a slight change in nuance in the wording. On one topic the confirmation has been so strong that I have felt free to make a major deletion. When I wrote the book, in the early 1950s, the notion was generally accepted that the world of Odysseus was on the whole the Mycenaean world, which came to an abrupt end, by violence, around 1200 b.c. The small heretical minority, of whom I was one, were in a difficult polemical position, and in 1956 I added an Appendix, *A Note on Homer and the Mycenaean Tablets', which has appeared in all subsequent editions. Today it is no longer seriously maintained, though it is still said offen enough, that the Iliad and Odyssey reflect Mycenaean society, a modern construct, it is important to note, which no ancient Greek had ever heard of. The decipherment of the Linear B tablets and archaeology together have destroyed the old orthodoxy. I have therefore dropped that Appendix, but I cannot resist pointing out that proper concern for social institutions and social history had anticipated what philology and archaeology subsequently found.

About

numerous. of

and its techniques, in contrast, the altertwo chapters) are significant, though not

oral poetry

ations (in the

Milman

I

first

originally wrote at a time

when

the discoveries

Parry, which revolutionized our understanding of

heroic poetry, had just been digested by scholars in the English-

speaking world, and were

then there has been revised

my

still

much

largely ignored elsewhere. Since

progress in this

text accordingly.

That 10

is

and I have have followed

field,

to say, I

PREFACE the views still

I

find myself

most in agreement with, on a subject

torn by controversy (again

essay)— about the relative

I

refer to the bibliographical

stability or instability of the 'for-

mulas', the structural unity of each

poem, and the creative

genius of the poet (or poets) responsible for the Iliad and Odyssey

we

possess.

have nevertheless retained a few quotations from modern authors which are now 'out of date', though no less correct for that, as a token of renewed gratitude to writers who influenced my thinking at the start. For the same reason, I repeat I

the thanks to individual friends recorded in the

C.

M.

first

edition:

Arensberg, Nathan Halper, Herbert Marcuse, Martin

Ostwald, Friedrich Solmsen, and the late Pascal Covici and

Karl Polanyi. M.I.F.

A

Note on Homeric Citations

two poems are by book and line number. Books of the Iliad are given in Roman numerals, of the Odyssey in Arabic numerals. It is therefore unnecessary to indicate the title of the poem on each occasion.

All quotations from the

ii

TH RACE

Hellespont (Dardanelles)

PP- 269-92.

MORALS AND VALUES no better Homeric image of man and his gods than by reading in two recent complementary books: Bruno Snell, The Discovery of the Mind, transl. T. G. Rosenmeyer (New York: Harper & Row; Oxford, Blackwell, 1953), especially chap. 1, 2, 8; and E. R, Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational (California, In the

way

first

edition of this book, I wrote: 'There could be

to begin a study of the

183

THE WORLD OF ODYSSEUS 195 1 ), chap. 1-3/ That is still a valid statement, though I might added the considerably older book of Gilbert Murray,

well have

now

out of fashion, The Rise of the Greek Epic (3rd ed., Oxford, 1924), which is full of insights despite its antedated conception of

the composition of the

Homeric poems.

Of recent books, two seem to me outstanding: A. W. H. Adkins, Merit and Responsibility (Oxford, i960), chap. 1-3; and the long,

and complex Nature and Culture in the Iliad: The Tragedy of by J. M. Redfield (Chicago, 1975). Atkins has elaborated his analysis in a series of articles, of which I mention 'Homeric Values and Homeric Society* and 'Homeric Gods and the Values of Homeric Society*, in Journal of Hellenic Studies, 91 (1971), pp. 1-14, and 92 (1972), pp. 1 -1 9, respectively. The former is a reply to a sharp but on the whole not persuasive critique by A. A. Long, 'Morals and Values in Homer', in the same journal, 90 (1970), subtle

Hector,

pp. 121-39.

On

special topics, see E.

(Uppsala: Almqvist

&

Ehnmark, The

Idea of

God

in

Homer

Wiksell, 1935), dealing with the concept

of divinity as distinct from myths about the individual gods; R.

Roman Religions and Early Judaism 1952; London, Black, 1953), which stresses the element of joyful sharing; G. S. Kirk, 'War and the Warrior in the Homeric Poems', in Problemes de la guerre en Grke ancienne, ed. J.-P. Vernant (Paris and The Hague: Mouton, 1968) K. Yerkes,

Sacrifice in

(New York:

pp. 93-1 1 7; N. schen

Greek and

Scribner's,

Himmelmann,

Gesellschaft

schaftlichen Klasse,

Ueber bildende Kunst

(Abhandlungen

der

geistes-

in der homeri-

und soZialwissen-

Akademie der Wissenschaften und der

Literatur,

a more wide-ranging study than the title indicates, neatly complemented by Felix Eckstein, Handwerk I, in Archaeologia Homerica, already mentioned, vol. 2, chap. L Mainz, 1969, no.

7),

(1974).

EPILOGUE The

subject of W.J. Verdenius, Homer, the Educator of the Greeks, published in the Mededelingen of the Dutch Academy, n.s. vol.33,

no 5 «

is

(

I

97°)»

1S

evident from the

title.

The

essential

background

provided by Sir Frederic Kenyon, Books and Readers 184

in Ancient

.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY Greece and

Rome (2nd

ed.,

Oxford,

1

95 1 ) and H. I. Marrou, A G. Lamb (New York: New ;

History of Education in Antiquity, transl.

American Library, 1964; London: Sheed & Ward, 1956; an unreliable translation of a work now in its 6th ed. in the original) An account of ancient Greek scholarship on Homer will be found in

R.

PfeifFer, History

of Classical Scholarship (Oxford, 1968); of

and pagans over Homer,

the debate between Christians

Pepin, Mythe

et allegoric.

judeo-chre'tiennes (Paris:

Les origines grecques

in Jean

et les contestations

Aubier, 1958), pp. 86-214.

In The Ulysses Theme (rev. ed., Michigan; Oxford: Blackwell,

W.

remarkably varied images day. On Homeric themes in early Greek art, see K. Friis Johansen, The Iliad in Early Geeek Art (Copenhagen: Munksgaard, 1967); Karl Schefold, Myth and Legend in Early Greek Art, transl. Audrey Hicks (New York: Abrams; 1966). M. B. Scherer, The Legends of Troy in Art and Literature (New York and London: Phaidon, 1963), ranges through the centuries; though the nearly 200 pictures are most 1963),

B. Stanford examines the

of Odysseus from antiquity to our

own

attractive, the reproductions are often too small in scale

text

is

not professional enough.

185

and the

INDEX OF PASSAGES QUOTED Note:

All the translations quoted in the text are the author's, except the quotations the to Apollo. Italic figures indicate pages in this book.

from Hesiod and

Hymn

Homer

Book XII

Book

I

Book II

13-14 152-4 165-8 212-4

126 122

258

"5

1

304-5 376-9 533-4 599-600 188-202 211-78 488-9 557-8

669

Book III

Book

IV

BookV Book

VI

Book

IX

209-11

70 100 121-56 264-98 291-7 328-31

XI

'34

72 107

Book

XV

Book Book Book Book

XVIII

XX

XXI XXII

295 304 184-6 187-93

496-9 410-15 1 79-83 441-52 105-7

492-8

in

Book

XXIII

90 175-6 259-61 510-13

5' 37 83

99

H9-55

Book

81 81

19-231

478

BookVIII

95

130 129 130 140

234-6 450-8 476-81

Book XIII

123

I39-40 351-4 380-415 44-54 174-7 257-70 33i 428-30 1

243 310-21

Iliad

Book

XXIV

Book

1:

153 124 '33 '33

542-85 833-5 397-400 527-33 801-4

116

97 104 104

'33

W3 116 72

86 57 ji6 126

58 '37 108

"9 108-9

56 103 '38 '"5

Odyssey

22-5 68-79

69

65 54 28 83

189-93 245-7 272 296-7

'33 '^5

298-300 311-18 356-9 374-5 386-402 392-3 394-6

82 62, 117

96 96 96

340-1

68 126

406-7 632-8

122 118

430-1 43o-3

Book

H5-7

118

443 670-84 705

"4 46 63 186

2:

1-8

12-13 42-6 52-4 132-3

81

'34 100 87

90 28 76 76 65

88 121, 124

85

95 84 67

54 80 5* 78 90 88

»

1

INDEX OF PASSAGES QUOTED I39-40 239-4 244-5 246-51 250-1

Book

3:

Book

Book

Book

4:

5:

6:

7:

Book

8:

9:

Book

13:

14:

67 13'

Book

17:

Book Book

18:

232-4 3I3-I5 3»4"»5 31-2 73-4

44 145-64 317-20 487-91 527-30 557-9 5-10 39-42 108 275-6

93 90 90 93 93 66 37 57 97 90

i63-5 382-5 346-61 107-14 130-2 172-7

19:

95 72

'7 122 122

203 272-84

89 127 100 89 89 127 4*

Book

20:

Book 21: Book 22:

127 4^ '55 101 124 63

Book

23:

Book

24:

60

122

66

395-7 336-7

70 85

34 '-4

88 88

57

92 98 103 87

65 102 140

S' 77

Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 8.7.1-2

9»

4' 141 13'

283 35 « -2 4'3 433-5

101 101

358-61

309-1

350-3 347-8 408-13 11-14 117-22 109-13 1 15-19 205-10 274-85

^9

338 346

48 Rhetoric i.< ).i367a32

128

Poetics 24. •3

71

87

Diogenes Laertius

»3-!5

96

130 29>-9

'3'

138

»-57

295

115

3-4'-3

383-5 45-7 57-8 58 98-9 199-212 230-3

127

375-82 425-7

66

126 89 89

>4

399-403 489-91 494-503

Book

56 58

127 127 132 100

66

17-18 95-6 122-4 196-7

16:

41-2 1 14-15 1 18-20 201-5

37o

Book 10: Book n:

Book

590-605 649-51 712-3

75-7 76-7

Book

324 415-16 536-8

63

208

Book

85

94 93

125 89 129 104 70

16-18 20-23

15:

92

193-8

22-3

Book

9*

337-42 214-15 425-38

432-6

124 9'

Lives of the Philosophers

38 62

85

Euripides

"5 Helen 108

101

95 5' 59 95

44

Herodotus 1

.69

2-45

187

100

23

THE WORLD OF ODYSSEUS Sophocles

Hesiod Theogony 22-34

41

Philocletes

407-8

Works and Days 156-73 26 i59-6o 135 176-8 739

Hymn 166-76

to

Strabo »-a-»5

53

Thucydides

Apollo

3.104.4

40

fragment

1 1

22

Xenophon

Republic

606E 607A

40

Xenophanes

Plato Laws 941B 69 Phaedrus 252B 39

70

/j

Symposium 3.5

2*

188

*/

———

—

—

1

.

GENERAL INDEX Achaeans, 18, 160, 161, 168 Achchiyava, i8n Achilles: epithets for, 29; as hero, 32, 1 13-18, 137; and Patroclus, 58, 108, 118, 127-28, 137 Aeruid, 29

Aeolic, 19

Agamemnon:

status

and character

"5

of, 75.

Ages of man, 26-27 Agora see Assembly

—

see

Alexander

Paris

Alexandria, 20-21, 34, 38 Alphabet, 19 Anassein,

83

Anthropomorphism, 132-36 Aphrodite: and Helen, 129, 130; power of, 133, 135 Apollo: and Dionysus, 139-40; and prophecy, 42; and the Trojans,

57,8i Arbitration, 109 Arete, 89, 129 Argives, 18 Aristocracy see Nobility

Caskey, J. L., 161, 170, 172 Cattle, 46, 60, 67 Chariots, 45, 108, 148 Child and parent, 126-27 Chios, 39, 40 Chryseis, 54, 81 Cnossus, 157

Commoners, 53-60, 7 82 attitudes and values of, 111-13; an I5 8 ; games, 34, 108, 1 19 34, 36-37, 56, 69-70,

108-

137, 144; as

amends, 66,

120-23, 1 17-18,

and marriage, 66, 88-90; Mauss on, 145 Gods as ancestors of men, 60, 131; anthropomorphism, 132-36; and bards, 41-42; fear and love of, 139; and feasts, 125; and festivals, 36; and gifts, 65, 96, 112, 137, 138; and goddesses, 130; inter138; :

vention

and 1

41

of,

31-32, 52, 81, 130-34;

justice, 97, 109, 129-30, 137; of nature, 1 36 ; and themis, 78,

and work, 72. See also Magic; Myth; Prayer; Religion; Sacrifice Temples and individual gods 101

;

;

;

Greeks: geographic spread

140

27-28, 32, 75. See also

Honour;

(formulas)

in, 29-31, 45-46, 83, 149-50. See afrctBard; Homer and history; Iliad; Odyssey

Hesiod, 16, 31, 33, 41, 1 13; and age of heroes, 26-27; and the gods, 41, '

Greek attitudes

to,

22 Hissarlik, 42-43, 152, 159, 160, 163, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169-70, 175

109, 119-20

Genealogy, 59, 131-2 Gifts, 61-62, 64-66, 95-98,

of, 130, 133,

Prowess; Status and values; and individual heroes Herodotus, 23-24, 25, 100 Heroic poetry, 29-3 1 ; repetition

97. '35> '4 1

Games,

12,

Heracles, 23

of,

66, 96-97, 98-100.

affairs,

1

Herald, 55, 56, 80, 109, 112 Hermes, 70 Hero: age of heroes, 27-29; nature

Fate, 134, i3**-39 Feasting, 89, 123-26 see Games Festivals

Foreign

of,

121

Hera: character Family,

Theban myth

44

Eratosthenes, 33 Ethics see Morals

Eumaeus,

86,

of,

16,

23-24. 33> »56; names for, 17-18; political organization of, 24, 34; prehistory of, 16-18, 25, 79, 155-

Hittites,

48n

Homer: and development

of Greek

22, 135-41; expurgations in, 128, 136; and the Greeks, 15, 22, 36-41, 69; and history, 22-

religion,

25. 27, 33-5°> 69* 76n, 85, 106, 1 12-13, 144, 154-58; identity of, «5> 27, 3 1 . 34» 39.

1 J

language

of,

'54-55J and myth, 22-25, 35, 76n, 105-106; popularity of, 21-22, 25, 39; view of man in, 25, 28-29, 113, 135. See »9> 3»> 39> 45»

also Iliad; Odyssey

Homeric Hymns, 40 Homerids, 39-40

Homicide, 77, 94 Homosexuality, 128 Honour, 28, 108-10, 113-22, 133 Household, 56-63, 70, 83-85, 94, 103-106. See also Family

—

1

——

;;

;

GENERAL INDEX Mycenaean

Ichor, 135

compared with

Iliad:

Odyssey,

31-

composition and 140-41; 32, structure of, 16, 29-31; interpolations in, 37-38, 49; textual history of, 34, 37-40; theme of, 81,

civilization, 44-45, 143,

150-52, 158

Myrmidons, 44, 87, 117 Mystery rites, 36, 137 Myth, 22-25, 26-27, 30,

36, 106

Nestor as hero, 86, 1 1 4- 1 5 hold of, 62 Newton, Charles, 176 :

1

16-18

I lion

see

Troy

Inheritance, 59, 83-93, 94, 132-33 Ionian, 17, 19, 36 Italy,

33 Ithaca topography :

of, in Odyssey,

33

Justice, 23, 32, 97, 140-41; judicial procedure, 108-1 Keimelion, 61

Kingship, 52, 103; and assembly, 80-82; and commoners, 92-93, 96-98 and gift-giving, 96-98, 1 23 and power, 82-96, 106, 109, 115, 133; and royal wealth, 95-96, ;

and

succession, 82-93, '3 2- 33 Kinship, 77, 83, 104, 117, 126; and blood-feud, 77. See also Family 121

;

Laertes:

and kingship

Land, 60, 95 Language: Greek, European, 18. language of

Law

see

in Ithaca,

86

16, 18, 143; IndoSee also Homer,

Blood-feud

;

Custom

Justice; Kingship

Linear B tablets, 16, 18, 19, 43, 4445>53, '44. 174 Literature: Greek, and its survival, 19-21; oral, 36, 145, 149-50. See

Heroic poetry Love, 126-29 also

Magic, 22, 31-32, 70, 129, 135 Marriage, 88, 103, 126-29; and foreign

relations,

88-89, 9°-

£» a ^°

99;

gifts,

66,

Suitors

Matriarchy, 90 Mauss, Marcel, 145 Megara, 37-38 Metal and metal-working, 45, 5556, 61-62, 63, 68, 70 Meyer, Eduard, 166-67, '7 *73 Money, 67 Morals, 28, 105-106, 123-24; and 1 ,

and trade, 68-70. Justice ; Prowess values

religion, 137-41

;

Honour

;

See also

Status

and

;

house-

Nietzsche, Friedrich, 119, 141 Nobility, 51-53, 59; and kingship, 83-93, »°3> 1 16 ; and work > 7'-73>

104

Oath, 109, 138, 140 Odysseus: and Athena, 32, 52, 57, 70, 100, 138; guile and prowess 69-70, 111-12, 115, 138; as king, 51-53, 84-88; wanderings of, 32, 52, 63, 121-22; wealth of, 52,

of,

63 Odyssey:

compared with

140-41;

Iliad,

31-32,

composition and struc-

ture, 16, 29-31, 34-35; interpolations in, 49; omissions, 148-49; textual history of, 34, 38-41; themes of, 32, 52-54, 84, 1 10, 140-

4i Oikos

—

see

Household

Omens, 78n,

114, 116, 129, 134 Orestes, 76, 94 Orpheus, 41 Paris: character of, 46; judgment of,

140; name of, 46 Parry, Milman, 30, 143 Pasturage, 46, 60 Patriotism see Community Patroclus: and Achilles, 58, 108, 118, 127-28, 137 Peasants, 53, 55, 71, 113, 122 Penelope: character of, 32, 129; and the suitors, 52, 73, 88-91

Phaeacia: hospitality in, 42, 89, 101, 121; kingship in, 81-82, 89, 106, and trade, 69, 1 02 as Utopia, 1 56 100-102 Phoenicians, 24, 55, 102; alphabet, 19; trade monopoly, 70, 158 ;

;

Physician, 37, 55 Pisistratus and Homer, 38-39 Plato and Homer, 15, 22, 23, 69, 138 Poetry see Heroic poetry; Literature Polis, 34, 120,

155

—

—

6

;

1

GENERAL INDEX Polydamas,

Taxes, 66, 96

1 1

Population size, 51-52, 54-55 Poseidon: intervention of, 22, 57; oath by, 109; and Zeus, 132-33 Prayer, 28, 108, 129 Prestige goods and symbols, 120-23. See also Treasure Priam: as king, 86; polygamy of, i27n; treasure of, 162, 164 Prowess, 28, 113-19. See also Booty;

War

1

1

4. See also

of, 32, 76, 84, 88, 92-94 Temenos, 95, 97 Temples, 45, 95n, 137 Theagenes of Rhegium, 35n Themis, 78, 82, 101, 109, 112 Therapon see Retainers Thersites, 82, 1 1 1-12

—

Thespis, 41 Thetes, 57-58, 70, 7

Thucydides, 40, 152

Prudence,

1 16 Public opinion, 80-82, 91-93,

Telemachus: character and growth,

no,

Thymos, 28n

Trade, 66-71

Counsel

Treasure, 61-63, 98, 157; royal, 94-96,

Pylos, 161, 169

and festivals, 37; Homer and development of, 22, 135-41; and morality, 137-41 and poetry, 35-36; and social structure, 140. See also Gods; Myth

Religion:

;

Retainers, 58, 103-104

Gifts

Trojan Cycle, 35 Trojan War: and the gods, 133, 140; historicity of,

27, 42-43, 49, 64, 144, 147, 152-53, 160, 168, 17177; recruiting for, 102-104, 122

Troy:

allies of, 44; location of, 43, 159-76; name of, 46; people of, 43-44; Schliemann and, 42-43, 159-76

Rhapsodist, 31, 38, 39-40 Ritual drama, 36 Roland, Song of, 31, 47, 145 Sacrifice, 55, 125, 137, 138;

108, 120-22, 121. See also

human,

Ulysses, 15

23> ?37

Salamis, 37 Sceptre, 80, 107, 109, III, 112 Scheria, 155-56 Schliemann, Heinrich, 42-43, 150, *5*> »59-76 Seer, 37, 55, 114; and bard, 41 Selene, 136 Self-sufficiency, 61-62

Virgil,

29

War: conduct and

life

of, 46, 74-75, 97, 140; of the hero, 28, 99; and

Army War

slavery, 54. See also

Prowess; Trojan

Wealth

see

Land;

;

Booty

Pasturage;

Treasure

Sexual behaviour, 54, 126-28, 12930 Sicily, 33 Slavery, 34, 54, 58-59, 71, 87n, 125 Smyrna, 156 Snodgrass/A. M., 154, 155, 157 Solon and Homer, 38 State see Community; Kingship Status: and birth, 53, 59-60; and

Whitman, Cedric, 146

values, 69-71, 75-76, 98, 105, 106107, 1 10-1 1, 121 Suitors (in the Odyssey) feasting of,

Xenophanes on Homer,

Women:

as slaves, 54, 59; status of, 89, 126-30: and work, 73 Work: attitude to, 71-73; pay for, 55-57, 66. See also Craftsmen;

Slavery; Thetes

Writing: absence of, in Homer, 29; among the Greeks, 16, 19-22, 36 22, 23, 35,

132, 138

:

24; and notion of justice, 32, 10, 140-41 ; and power struggle,

52, 1

1

52, 84-94

Zeus: and the ages of man, 26; as father, 83, 134; and hospitality, 101; as king, 83, 132-34

Who was Homer? When were the Iliad and the Odyssey composed? When and why did the Trojan war occur? What sort of society did Odysseus, Achilles, Helen, Hector, and Priam live in? What were their beliefs about government, religion, class, and sex? The distinguished Finley answers such questions with his lucidity and draws our attention to many

historian M.

renowned

I.

newly fascinating aspects of this perennially fresh subject. In revising and updating a book that for more than two decades has been acclaimed as a central and important landmark in the modern study of ancient Greece, he has suggested the ways in which recent scholarship and archaeology have vindicated the controversy theses he advanced so brilliantly in the first 3 hsu incorporated the new information and edition. fresh perceptions that have emerged from what he calls .

'

the notoriously

unmanageable quantity

of

Homeric

scholarship, and in two new appendices he discusses the problems inherent in any attempt to use Greek myths, oral traditions, and the Homeric poems in a historical reconstruction.

new edition of 'It is an unmixed pleasure to welcome this a book which has become a classic in its field, as indispensable to the professional as it is accessible to the general reader.'

—Bernard Knox, The New York Review of Books 'Professor Finley's magnificent The World of Odysseus has long been one of the treasures of my library, and I

am delighted that a book with such breadth and depth of vision should be reissued to inform and delight a new —Mary Renault generation of readers.' The cover shows a Munich (Bisonte)

detail

from a Greek cup

in

the Glyptothek,

I? 95

History/

$5.75 AUST. (recommended)

Archaeology

U.K.

CAN.

$4.95

U.S.A.

$4.95

K

14 ISBN 02.0570 5