| Author |
Gottschall, Jonathan |
| Year |
2008 |
| Publisher |
New York: CUP |
| Number of pages |
236 |
| ISBN |
9780521690478 |
| Keywords |
|
Abstract
Amazon (2013):
Homer's epics reflect an eighth-century BCE world of warrior tribes that were fractured
by constant strife; aside from its fantastic scale, nothing is exceptional about Troy's
conquest by the Greeks. Using a fascinating and innovative approach, Professor Gottschall
analyses Homeric conflict from the perspective of modern evolutionary biology, attributing
its intensity to a shortage of available young women. The warrior practice of taking
enemy women as slaves and concubines meant that women were concentrated in the households
of powerful men. In turn, this shortage drove men to compete fiercely over women:
almost all the main conflicts of the Iliad and Odyssey can be traced back to disputes
over women. The Rape of Troy integrates biological and humanistic understanding -
biological theory is used to explore the ultimate sources of pitched Homeric conflict,
and Homeric society is the subject of a bio-anthropological case study of why men
fight.
