Black Ships and Sea Raiders: The Late Bronze and Early Iron Age Context of Odysseus’ Second Cretan Lie

by Jeffrey P. Emanuel

The end of the Bronze Age in the Eastern Mediterranean was a time of social, political, and economic upheaval – conditions reflected, in many ways, in the world of Homer’s Odyssey. Jeffrey P. Emanuel examines the Odyssey’s Second Cretan Lie (xiv 191 – 359) in the context of this watershed transition, with particular emphasis on raiding, warfare, maritime technology and tactics, and the evidence for the so-called ‘Sea Peoples’ who have been connected to the events of this period. He focuses in particular on the hero’s description of his frequent raiding activities and on his subsequent sojourn in the land of the pharaohs, and connections between Odysseus’ false narrative and the historical experiences of one particular Sea Peoples the ‘Sherden of the Sea.’

Genres: History, Ancient History, Nonfiction, Greece

228 pages, Paperback

Published September 11, 2019

About the author

‣ Husband & father

‣ Archaeology & Digital Scholarship @ Harvard University

‣ Ancient warfare and maritime technology in Egypt, the Near East, & the Aegean

‣ USAF Special Warfare veteran

‣ Choctaw Indian + Viking

‣ College football fanatic (OU + UGA)

Reviews

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's some really interesting takes on things in here that I had not heard before and it's pretty readable in terms of difficulty level, but being able to read it and understand it in context are two different things. What I mean by that is that this seemed to me like a book for a very niche audience that has a scholarly background in this material. This didn't at all seem like a book for the casual reader to me and it's not a light read.