The World of Homer

The author surveys Homeric poetry and contemporary criticism, disputing doctrines that break the epics into many late interpolations and advocating for a collective, traditional mode of epic composition rooted in formulaic oral practice. He contrasts learned, single-author art-epics with spontaneous national lays, examines archaeological findings and lost or fragmentary epics, and draws comparisons with other early epic traditions. Detailed chapters treat Homeric lands, peoples, burial customs, arms, costume, and tactics, using material evidence to contextualize poetic depictions. Throughout, contested passages are re-evaluated with attention to how oral transmission and later accretions have shaped the surviving texts.