The returns of Odysseus
Subtitle: colonization and ethnicity
By: Irad Malkin.
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 331
Subjects: Homer.; Odysseus (Greek mythology) in literature.; Epic poetry, Greek -- History and criticism.; Trojan War -- Literature and the war.; Literature and society -- Greece.; Ethnicity in literature.; Colonies in literature.; Civilization, Homeric.; Heroes in literature.; Greece -- Social conditions.
Description: Irad Malkin contributes here to the current lively discussion of encounters among Greeks and non-Greeks. Through the prism of myths, he argues, notions of ethnicity and collective identity were articulated. Focussing in particular on myths about Odysseus and other heroes who visited foreign lands on their mythical voyages homeward after the Trojan War, he shows how these Return-myths influenced actual encounters during the time of early exploration and colonization in the western Mediterranean.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-313) and index.