Greeks and Pre-Greeks
Subtitle: Aegean Prehistory and Greek Heroic Tradition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2009
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 220
ISBN-13: 9780521107990
Description: Most current reconstructions of Aegean prehistory are predominantly based on archaeology. This book, however, approaches the subject from the vantage point of linguistics and Greek heroic tradition. Its main thesis is that the ancient Greeks started their history as a mixed population group consisting of both Greek-speaking newcomers and the indigenous population of the land. Issues such as intermarriage and cultural and linguistic fusion are discussed as well as the eventual collapse of Mycenaean Greece and the creation of the myth of the Trojan War.