From Hittite to Homer

This book provides a groundbreaking reassessment of the prehistory of Homeric epic. It argues that in the Early Iron Age bilingual poets transmitted to the Greeks a set of narrative traditions closely related to the one found at Bronze-Age Hattusa, the Hittite capital. Key drivers for Near Eastern influence on the developing Homeric tradition were the shared practices of supralocal festivals and venerating divinized ancestors, and a shared interest in creating narratives about a legendary past using a few specific storylines: theogonies, genealogies connecting local polities, long-distance travel, destruction of a famous city because it refuses to release captives, and trying to overcome death when confronted with the loss of a dear companion. Professor Bachvarova concludes by providing a fresh explanation of the origins and significance of the Greco-Anatolian legend of Troy, thereby offering a new solution to the long-debated question of the historicity of the Trojan War.

Product details

• Authors: Mary R. Bachvarova, Mary R. (Willamette University Bachvarova, Bachvarova Mary R.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9781108994101
• ISBN: 978-1-108-99410-1
• Dimensions: 170 mm x 245 mm x 36 mm
• Series: Print on Demand
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, LITERARY CRITICISM / Ancient & Classical, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Ancient (Classical) Greek, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, Literary studies: poetry and poets