From Mycenae to Homer

Taylor & Francis

From Mycenae to HomerA Study in Early Greek Literature and Art\nAuthor(s): T. Webster\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd, United Kingdom\nImprint: Routledge\nISBN-13: 9781138021396, 978-1138021396\nSynopsis\nThis book, first published in 1958, aims to describe Greek art and poetry within this ambiguous period of ancient history (often referred to as the Greek Dark Ages), and to explore the possibilities of learning about Mycenaean civilisation from its own documents and not only from archaeology.\n\nSpecifically, Webster utilises Michael Ventris decipherment of Linear B in 1952 which proved that Greek was spoken in the Mycenaean world to determine the general contours of aesthetic development from Mycenae to the time of the written composition of the Homeric epics. Because they record Mycenaean civilisation in Mycenaean terminology, while Homer was writing in Ionian Greek at the beginning of the polis civilisation, they show how much in Homer is in fact Mycenaea.