The World of Odysseus (New York Review Books Classics Series) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Bernard Knox (Introduction) "BY THE GENERAL consent of criticks," wrote Dr. Johnson, "the first praise of genius is due to the writer of an epick poem, as it..." (more)
Key Phrases: heroic poetry, heroic world, Trojan War, King Alcinous, Loeb Classical Library

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The World of Odysseus is a concise and fascinating account of the society that gave birth to The Iliad and The Odyssey. A pioneering work of social history first published in 1954, Finley's brilliant study is a fundamental companion for any student of Homer or ancient Greece. "As indispensable to the professional as it is accessible to the general reader." - Bernard Knox

About the Author

M.I. FINLEY (1912–1986), the son of Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzellenbogen, was born in New York City. He graduated from Syracuse University at the age of fifteen and received an MA in public law from Columbia, before turning to the study of ancient history. During the Thirties Finley taught at Columbia and City College and developed an interest in the sociology of the ancient world that was shaped in part by his association with members of the Frankfurt School who were working in exile in America. In 1952, when he was teaching at Rutgers, Finley was summoned before the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee and asked whether he had ever been a member of the Communist Party. He refused to answer, invoking the Fifth Amendment; by the end of the year he had been fired from the university by a unanimous vote of its trustees. Unable to find work in the US, Finley moved to England, where he taught for many years at Cambridge, helping to redirect the focus of classical education from a narrow emphasis on philology to a wider concern with culture, economics, and society. He became a British subject in 1962 and was knighted in 1979. Among Finley’s best-known works are The Ancient Economy, Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology, and The World of Odysseus.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (September 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590170172
• ISBN-13: 978-1590170175
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #266,948 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Anthropology of Homer, November 6, 2002

By	Big Dave (Boise, Idaho) - See all my reviews

Finley only briefly ventures into archaeology in the beginning of _The World of Odysseus_, and only to demonstrate that Mycenean Greece is not the world of the Homeric heroes. From this conclusion he guesses that Homer is likely describing a world that existed between the Mycenean era and the poet's own time.

Finley then goes literary, eschewing anthropology and archaeology and instead analyzing the texts of the Iliad and the Odyssey. From the stories of Homer, he reconstructs the sort of society in the Homeric heroes lived, in terms of its economy, its social structure, and its morals and values.

The picture he draws is interesting and compelling, above all because it is consistent. Its consistency is, of course, an argument in favor of the view that the Homeric world really did exist (i.e., that gods and magic and specific names aside, the cultural world described by Homer is authentic, and not an artistic creation). Moreover, because the culture is consistent, an understanding of it helps a reader to interpret sometimes puzzling actions on the part of Homer's heroes. This is therefore important secondary reading to accompany any reading of Homer.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for the Homeric reader, May 7, 2003

By	D. Roberts "Hadrian12" (Battle Creek, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is a fantastic account of an epoch in which the worlds of history and mythology merge together. The historical significance of myriad passages in Homer are discussed and elaborated on. One cannot but stand in awe of Finley's perspicuity in deciphering the historical importance of even the minutest details.

This is a superb reference guide to assist one's journey thru the archaic but wonderous historical niche of the ancient Greeks. For those who have already read the works of Homer, the present work is a very useful tool to examine more closely the subtle information provided in even the most remote passages of the epics.

This book is highly recommended to anyone who has ever read Homer, as well as anyone who would ever like to. For students of Greek history and literature, this one is a can't miss!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A work of classical scholarship that is TRULY a classic, September 30, 2002

By	Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Moses Finley's WORLD OF ODYSSEUS is that rarest of rarities: it is a work of historical-literary scholarship that so far hasn't dated hardly at all. As such, it makes the perfect edition to the NYRB Classics series: this nifty little study gives the reader a very informative (and mostly very accurate) overview of life during Homer's age, the so-called "Dark Ages" of ancient Greece. The iconoclasm of Finley's approach--his daring refusal to believe the Homeric epics gave accurate portraits of the Mycenaean Age they purported to describe, and his insistence that they rather spoke to Homer's own time--still seems brave and innovative fifty years later, and Bernard Knox does a superb job contextualizing the impact of Finley's study.