From Mycenae To Homer

by T.B.L. Webster

This 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.

Specifically, 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 Mycenaean. Further, where it is clear that these Mycenaean elements cannot have survived until Homer's time, they tell us something about the poetry which connected the two.

Genres: History

333 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

T. B. L. Webster's From Mycenae to Homer is a good, but not great, synthesis of various pieces of information about the Greek world from about 2000 B.C.E. to 700 B.C.E. Webster attempts to place Greek arts and letters in the wider context of the eastern Mediterranean. To my mind, he goes too far in suggesting that, for instance, Greek epic poetry uses formulaic expressions and repeated patterns in imitation of Sumerian and Babylonian poetry. These seem to me to be symptoms of oral poetry in general, not specific borrowings from another culture.

The book includes 30-some pages of illustrations from pottery and other art objects. These were a good complement to Webster's discussion, and were often alluded to in the text.