M. I. Finley here reconstructs the "preliterary" background to Greek civilization by an examination of recent archaeological discoveries and a critical reappraisal of older archaeological evidence. He discusses the problems that dependence on such evidence poses for the historian, for, although archaeology reveals changes and even cataclysms, it rarely allows us more than a restricted view of a society under normal conditions. He points out the difficulties in reconciling the mythological "evidence" and the archaeological, particularly in Crete and Troy, and analyzes and distinguishes the elements of historic fact and legend in the
Iliad and
Odyssey.
Dr. Finley then traces the rise and development of distinctive Greek institutions and culture: the fall of the palace-centered "Mycenaean" state and emergence of the polis in Athens and Sparta, the taming of the Homeric hero and emergence of a shadowy concept, "the people." He shows how the Greeks tackled the problem of stasis—social conflict—and concludes with a discussion of the agon, the contest, that symbol of the tension between the individual and society that has been an element of Western societ ever since.
This admirable study has now been revised and enlarged by Professor Finley in the light of the latest archaeological evidence and relevant scholarship. It provides, succinctly and authoritatively, the background information needed for a proper understanding of classical Greek civilization.
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