GREECE BEFORE HOMER

GREECE BEFORE HOMER
ANCIENT CHRONOLOGY AND
MYTHOLOGY
JOHN FORSDYKE
K.C.B.

24grammata.com – free ebook
[download] free ebooks  on Classical Literature and History click here

CONTENTS
1 HOMER 9
2 GREEK CHRONOGRAPHY 28
3 PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 44.
4 HISTORY AND ROMANCE 62
5 MYTHICAL ASIATICS 87
6 CYCLIC CHARACTERS no
7 CLASSICAL MYTHOGRAPHY 138
8 FICTION AND FACT 152
APPENDIX
GREEK AUTHORS MENTIONED IN THE TEXT
INDEX 169

24grammata.com – free ebook
[download] free ebooks  on Classical Literature and History click here

PREFACE
In writing this introduction to the archaeological and literary
records ofprehistoric Greece, I have had in mind readers who may
not be prepared for critical consideration of these matters as
presented in books which quote ancient authors in their original
languages and refer to international academic publications. I have
therefore omitted footnotes and have cited the Greek authorities
in translation.
The purpose of the book is to explore the processes by which
prehistoric
narratives were adopted in historical Greek literature
and elaborated with realistic details ofgenealogy and chronology.
The archaeological documents are authentic records ofthe times
that they represent, but they do not explain themselves. The
literary statements are explicit, but unauthentic in the sense that
they were not contemporary with the events that they describe.
Such testimonies cannot legitimately be used to explain archaeo
logical discoveries unless they are themselves supported by ex
ternal evidence.
I have transcribed Greek words with no more change than
English c and y for k and H, except in names which are familiar in
English or Latin forms, as Plutarch and Aeschylus. This apparent
inconsistency has the advantage ofdistinguishing between literary
works which we possess, and those that exist in fragments or not
at all. Thus Apollodorus is the author ofthe well-known mytho
logical Library, Apollodoros of the lost Chronography

24grammata.com – free ebook
[download] free ebooks  on Classical Literature and History click here