Homer and the Indo-Europeans - Comparing Mythologies (Hardcover)

This study in comparative mythology interprets the Greek myths in the light of the mythologies of other Indo-European cultures - Indian, Celtic, Scandinavian, Roman, Greek, Iranian and Ossetian. The author uses a modified version of the schema proposed by the French theorist Dumezil to consider the profound connections between such works as the "Iliad", the "Odyssey", the Indian epics - the "Ramayana" and the "Mahabharata" - the Iranian "Book of Kings" and the Scandinavian "Yaglingasaga". The book includes a long critical exposition of the discipline of comparative mythology from its 18th-century origins to the revival of the discipline by Dumezil and his followers from 1938 to the present. It also reassesses the profound critique of Dumezil which linked him with Nazi ideology.