Moses I. Finley

The World of Odysseus is a concise and fascinating account of the society that gave birth to The Iliad and The Odyssey. A pioneering work of social history first published in 1954, Finley's brilliant study is a fundamental companion for any student of Homer or ancient Greece.

The World of Odysseus

M. I. Finley

The Ancient Greeks (Penguin History)

Essential passages from the works of four "fathers of history"-Herodotus's History, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Xenophon's Anabasis, and Polybius's Histories.

The Portable Greek Historians

Os Gregos antigos

Ancient Slavery and Modern Ideology

This book examines various aspects of Roman property.

By the Cambridge University Research Seminar in Ancient History

Studies in Roman Property

The Use and Abuse of History

Describes the evolution of the city-states Athens and Sparta between 1600 and 500 B.C. and examines the ways the early Greeks learned to handle social conflict

The Bronze and Archaic Ages

Early Greece

Richard P. Saller

Brent D. Shaw

Economy and Society in Ancient Greece

The author compares slave societies with the ir relatively modern counterparts in the New World to show a new perspective on the history of slavery. He sheds light o n the complex ways in which ideological interests affect his torical interpretation. '"

The Ancient Greeks

Nettie the Squirrel goes to her friend's birthday party and has a good time in spite of herself.

Ancient Sicily to the Arab Conquest

A History of Sicily

This is a book about the study and understanding of the history of the Greeks and Romans ; about the evidence that is available to the historians and its severe limitations ; about the practices of the historians in dealing with the evidence, and about alternative procedures that might be attempted ; in sum, about what we can know and what we are unlikely ever to know. Thus, Sir Moses Finley states his purpose, with characteristic clarity, at the start of the book in which he distils the thoughts and conclusions he has come to after fifty years of teaching and scholarly work in history. His intention is avowedly polemical. In fundamental ways he challenges the prevailing tradition : the special status so often accorded to classical texts, for example, or the flaws in the traditional analysis of the Greek city-state. He exposes unacceptable assumptions in the traditional accounts of ancient wars and urban structure, and offers pointers to a more fruitful approach through models. Always the emphasis is on asking the right questions, to enlarge our understanding of life in the ancient world "as it really was". Professor Finley's book provides a keynote for future research in the field of ancient history and, at the same time, a liberating analysis of the problems of method that all historians face. -- Publisher description.

Evidence and Models

Ancient History

Views and Controversies

Slavery in Classical Antiquity

The Ancient Economy

Christopher Duggan

Denis Mack Smith

A history of the small but significant island of Sicily discusses the cultural mix left as a legacy by the civilizations who have dominated the island in the past and the progressive material impoverishment that the island has suffered

The empires of Greece and Rome, two of the very few genuine slave societies in history, formed the core of the ancient world, and they have much to teach the student of recent slave systems. This volume was the final project of the twentieth century's leading expert on ancient slavery, Moses Finley, and much of the contemporary debate over ancient bondage bears witness to the power of his legacy. Designed to bring the contribution of ancient history to the attention of a wider audience, this collection discusses the classical definition of slavery, the relationship between war, piracy and slavery, early abolitionist movements as well as the supply and domestic aspects of slavery in antiquity.

Moses I. Finley

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