The Iliad and Odyssey: Historical Background

Who, What, Where:

These epic stories are about the Mycenaean or Bronze Age, ancient Greeks, who
flourished from about 1600-1100 BC. This is roughly about the time Moses led the
Israelites from Egypt through the time David ruled a united Jewish nation; by most
accounts, Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and Troy fell somewhere around 1300-1200
BCE. (See our timeline)

These "Greeks" are relative late-comers to the area we now call "Greece" and likely
originated to the East of Black Sea, around the area now called the Caucasus (between
the Black and Caspian seas, where Russia, Turkey and N. Iran meet). The story
of Prometheus -- shackled to mount Caucus -- shows strong connections between their
original culture and that of the Sumerians etc. These people also probably invaded
India, to the East/South at roughly the same time (discuss Pramantha/Prometheus
mythology). So these Mycenaean people were both influenced by and influenced other
great civilizations even before there was written history (or, for that matter,
writing). SEE MAPS BELOW

Before the Mycenaeans arrived in the region, earlier "Greek" cultures worshipped
ancient fertility goddesses probably related to Ishtar, Aphrodite, even Athena and Hera,
and appear to have lived a rather peaceable, agricultural lifestyle (we assume this
because archeological digs show these pre-Mycenaean people lived without military
weapons or fortifications...until they were invaded by the Mycanaeans).

In contrast to "the locals", the Greek legends we read celebrate war; this is the literature
of military conquerors, so the Mycenaean people had as much in common with, say, the
later Vikings as with the later philosophical, "civilized" Greeks: this is a culture
of raiders, of looters and pillagers. From this perspective, The Iliad is a work of military
propaganda that justifies Mycenaen control of the most valuable sea passage of age (the
Bosporus), and The Odyssey justifies colonizing Italy and Sicily to the West.

So, like the Hebrew scriptures -- or our own "Westerns" (cowboys/us vs. Indians/them) -
- these Greek legends justify the invasion and domination of earlier "native" inhabitants.

These Ancient (and even Classical) Greeks are best viewed as a culture rather than as a
unified people or "nation". When we speak of "the Ancient Greeks" it's the same way
we view “Western Culture” as referring to Europe, Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia.
Achilles is a king in his own right, as is Odysseus, Menaleaus, Agamemnon etc., and
Achilles goes to great lengths to point out that Agamemnon is not his king;
Agamemnon is simply the commander of a federation of independent city states. This
distinction is important to understanding the Iliad: Achilles rightfully sees himself as
Agamemnon's equal.

Troy is believed to have fallen around 1184 BC and The Iliad and Odyssey were not
written down until c.800-700 BC, so although they are based on vaguely real historical
events and actual historical characters, they are events that transpired hundreds of
years before the author even lived; they are history that has morphed into
mythology. We still say they were written by the blind poet Homer, but that’s as much
myth as the stories themselves; there’s really no reason to believe that a man named
Homer ever wrote any of these stories, or that he was blind. We can assume that this is
a compilation of various oral tales and that much of the narration describes what Greek
life and warfare was like in 750 BCE, not 1184 BCE.