In this comprehensive history of Homer's references to ships and seafaring, author Samuel Mark reveals patterns in the way that Greeks built ships and approached the sea between 850 and 750 b.c. To discuss and clarify the terms used by Homer, Mark draws on scholarly literature as well as examples from recent excavations of ancient shipwrecks.
Mark begins by emphasizing the importance of the household during a period in which chiefs ruled and Greek nobles disdained merchants and considered seafaring a necessary but less than distinguished activity. His chapter on Odysseus's construction...