A Comprehensive Sociological Study of Archaic Greece: The World of Ulysses by Moses Finley

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[...] The World of Ulysses presents Homer as the iconic poet of the dark times of the Greek world. However, despite the enthusiasm sparked by this point in the 1960s, it was quickly challenged, historians preferring to see him as the poet of the creation of the Greek alphabet and the narrator of Greek colonial expansion and the founding of cities. The analysis does not focus on the society already established in the 8th century BC, nor on the late Mycenaean times. [...]

[...] However, the publication in 1954 of a work by Mireaux dealing with the same subject meant that the Annales did not attempt to address The World of Ulysses. To prove the excellent reception of the book, the reviews were dithyrambic. All the research of the 20th century has thus been nourished by Finley's work, keeping an important topicality. Nevertheless, as with all historical productions, it is possible to find one or two possible reproaches. Although it remains today a reference from which one can take the 'substantive moëlle' as Gernet said of this book, many advances made since the 1950s have led to the progressive exhaustion of certain aspects of the work, particularly economic and cultural questions. [...]

[...] To do this, he delved into a large number of ancient poems to extract similarities and modes of writing for a given period, while comparing with historical knowledge of the subjects addressed. In fact, he was certainly the first historian to precisely situate the context of the Odyssey after the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization but before the foundation of the cities in the 8th century. Thus, a delta of three to four centuries remained during which the adventures of Ulysses could have taken place. [...]

[...] At the time of the original edition's publication, this information had not yet been made public. However, a mention of this discovery was added to a number of supplementary documents. The book had a very good reception throughout Europe. Despite a relatively late translation, at the end of the 1960s, or fifteen years after its publication, the content had not been compromised. As a result, the book was very important for historians who used it as a basis for a large number of research works. [...]

[...] Truly innovative and very popular since its publication in 1954, The World of Ulysses The World of Ulysses was the true starting point of the author's historical production, who continues to be interested in these themes and periods, despite a forced exile from the United States to England, due to a complex political situation caused by his proximity to socialist and communist circles. Died in 1986, he remains one of the main global references in ancient Greek history. After having strongly influenced historians such as Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Vidal-Naquet, he quickly became a reference for historians from all over Europe, until now with some of his theses still being an argument of authority. [...]