The World of Odysseus was written by Sir Moses I. Finley, and it is an in depth analysis of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The period in history that helped to produce these two phenomenal works is veiled with uncertainty due to the fact that an actual written history doesn't exist. Homer put his history of the period together from the traditional custom of oral poetic story telling that originated from the late Dark Age and early Archaic Period. The first three chapters of Finley's text provide the reader with an understanding of the Greek world so the information presented in the fourth and fifth chapters is easier to understand.

The first chapter introduces the world of the Greeks, their exposure to writing, the importance of Homer, and the possibility that the two epics were written by two people. The text distinguishes that Homer actually was an actual...