M. I. Finley here reconstructs the preliterary background to Greek civilization by an examination of recent archeological discoveries and a critical reappraisal of older archeological evidence. He discusses the problems that dependence on such evidence poses for the historian, for, although archeology reveals changes and even cataclysms, it rarely allows us more than a restricted view of a society under normal conditions. He points out the difficulties in reconciling the mythological evidence and the archeological, particularly in Crete and Troy, and analyzes and distinguishes the elements of historic fact and legend in the Iliad and Odyssey."
- ISBN10 0701114363
- ISBN13 9780701114367
- Publish Date 15 January 1970
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 January 1992
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Vintage Publishing
- Imprint Chatto & Windus
- Edition Illustrated edition
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 176
- Language English