Michael B. Cosmopoulos is the Hellenic Government-Karakas Family Foundation Professor of Greek Studies and Professor of Archaeology at the University of Missouri-St Louis. An acclaimed archaeologist specializing in the Greek Bronze Age, he has excavated at Mycenae, Eleusis, Iklaina, and other major sites, and has published numerous books and scholarly articles.  His works include Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries (2015, also by Cambridge University Press). He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the Academy of Athens.  For his contributions to scholarship he has been decorated with the Gold Cross of the Order of Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic.

''A tour de force by a mature and versatile scholar who, like Dante's Virgil, guides us through the archaeological, historical and oral literary evidence surrounding the two great Homeric song poems. Michael Cosmopoulos helps us recognize the enduring human truths that the Iliad and Odyssey still hold for us. Tom Palaima, Robert M. Armstrong Professor of Classics, University of Texas

• Introduction; Part I. Homeric Scholarship; 1. Homer and Homeric studies; Part II. The World of Homer: 2. Historical background; 3. Society and politics; 4. Political geography; 5. Economy; 6. War; 7. Religion; Part III. History, Memory and the Emergence of Greek Epic Poetry: 8. Historical elements in the epics; 9. Social memory and epic composition.

Michael B. Cosmopoulos is the Hellenic Government-Karakas Family Foundation Professor of Greek Studies and Professor of Archaeology at the University of Missouri-St Louis. An acclaimed archaeologist specializing in the Greek Bronze Age, he has excavated at Mycenae, Eleusis, Iklaina, and other major sites, and has published numerous books and scholarly articles.  His works include Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries (2015, also by Cambridge University Press). He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the Academy of Athens.  For his contributions to scholarship he has been decorated with the Gold Cross of the Order of Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic.

''A tour de force by a mature and versatile scholar who, like Dante's Virgil, guides us through the archaeological, historical and oral literary evidence surrounding the two great Homeric song poems. Michael Cosmopoulos helps us recognize the enduring human truths that the Iliad and Odyssey still hold for us. Tom Palaima, Robert M. Armstrong Professor of Classics, University of Texas

• Introduction; Part I. Homeric Scholarship; 1. Homer and Homeric studies; Part II. The World of Homer: 2. Historical background; 3. Society and politics; 4. Political geography; 5. Economy; 6. War; 7. Religion; Part III. History, Memory and the Emergence of Greek Epic Poetry: 8. Historical elements in the epics; 9. Social memory and epic composition.

Michael B. Cosmopoulos is the Hellenic Government-Karakas Family Foundation Professor of Greek Studies and Professor of Archaeology at the University of Missouri-St Louis. An acclaimed archaeologist specializing in the Greek Bronze Age, he has excavated at Mycenae, Eleusis, Iklaina, and other major sites, and has published numerous books and scholarly articles.  His works include Bronze Age Eleusis and the Origins of the Eleusinian Mysteries (2015, also by Cambridge University Press). He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Canada, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the Academy of Athens.  For his contributions to scholarship he has been decorated with the Gold Cross of the Order of Phoenix of the Hellenic Republic.

''A tour de force by a mature and versatile scholar who, like Dante's Virgil, guides us through the archaeological, historical and oral literary evidence surrounding the two great Homeric song poems. Michael Cosmopoulos helps us recognize the enduring human truths that the Iliad and Odyssey still hold for us. Tom Palaima, Robert M. Armstrong Professor of Classics, University of Texas

• Introduction; Part I. Homeric Scholarship; 1. Homer and Homeric studies; Part II. The World of Homer: 2. Historical background; 3. Society and politics; 4. Political geography; 5. Economy; 6. War; 7. Religion; Part III. History, Memory and the Emergence of Greek Epic Poetry: 8. Historical elements in the epics; 9. Social memory and epic composition.