Are the Iliad and the Odyssey just charming poetic fantasies? Or do they give a more or less accurate picture of the Mycenaean period, the early Dark Age or Homer's own era? Do archaeological discoveries like Schliemann's excavations at Troy bear out Homer's account of the Trojan War?

These great questions have generated decades of discussion, but they have seldom been considered with Sir Moses Finley's unique combination of clarity, penetrating intelligence and complete lack of prejudice. Drawing on a deep understanding of oral poetry and an unrivalled knowledge of early Greece, he offers a totally fresh analysis of Homer's depiction of kinship and community, Helen and Hector, morals and values, Paris, Priam and the gods. When The World of Odysseus was published to great acclaim in 1954, it at once aroused controversy. This second edition confirms the central claims he advanced so brilliantly in the first publication.

(on the back cover)

M.I.芬利（M.I.Finley，1912–1986），著名古典学家、剑桥大学古代史教授。17岁获得哥伦比亚大学法学硕士学位，之后转向古代史研究，1954年接受剑桥大学的邀请，前往英国。他将文化、经济和社会学范式运用于古代世界研究，对传统古典学方法形成了有益补充，代表作品有《奥德修斯的世界》《古代经济》《古代世界的政治》。因其卓越的学术贡献，芬利于1979年受封爵士。