Homer and the Iron Age

Bibliographic Data

ID20058468
AuthorsIan Morris, Ian D Morris (0000-0001-7826-459X, corresponding author)
Year1997
Pages535-559
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueA New Companion to Homer (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherBrill (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1163/9789004217607_025
OpenAlexW774465825
ISBN9789004217607
LanguageEN
Citations received39

This chapter discusses the place of Iron Age archaeology in Homeric scholarship. It briefly reviews the relationships of these fields across the last 125 years, and then discusses the picture of Iron Age Greece which archaeology now provides, and its relevance to Homeric studies. There has long been interest in the material culture of the poems, but modern Homeric archaeology began with Heinrich Schliemann. Strong regional variation is typical of Iron Age Europe, and Greece is no exception. The chapter divides the Greek world into four areas. Central Greece, where Homer's supposed homes of Smyrna and Chios lie, has attracted most archaeological activity, and the chapter describes it in rather greater detail that the other regions. Messenia had been one of the core areas of the Mycenaean world, and suffered a huge population decline after 1200.Keywords: archaeology; Heinrich Schliemann; Homer; Iron Age; Messenia

Ancient history · Archaeology · Classical archaeology · Geography · Iron Age · Population · Scholarship · Sociology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · Demography · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · History · Linguistics and language evolution