Powell's study Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet advances the controversial thesis that a single man invented the Greek alphabet expressly in order to record the poems of Homer. His Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization [Wiley-Blackwell 2009] rejects the standard theories of the origins of both Sumerian cuneiform and the Phoenician alphabet as deriving from pictograms. and attempts to create a scientific terminology and taxonomy for the study of writing.
Powell has also translated a number of works, including the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid and the poems of Hesiod. His Greek Poems to the Gods includes translation and commentary on Greek hymns from Homer to Proclus.
Books[edit]
- Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet, Cambridge University Press, 1991
- Writing and the Origins of Greek Literature, Cambridge University Press, 2003
- Homer, Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, 2nd ed. 2007
- Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization, Wiley-Blackwell, 2009
- Classical Myth, eighth edition, Pearson, 2014
Translations[edit]
- The Iliad, Oxford University Press, 2013
- The Odyssey, Oxford University Press, 2014
- Vergil's Aeneid, Oxford University Press, 2015
- The Poems of Hesiod: Theogony, Works and Days, the Shield of Heracles, University of California Press 2017
- Greek Poems to the Gods, University of California Press, 2021
Notes and references[edit]
- "Powell, Barry". Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. 25 April 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
- "When the Ancient Greeks Began to Write", Archaeology, pp. 44–49 [May/June 2017]
- Powell 2009, chapter 14; Review by L. R. Siddall Review by Hayden Pelliccia, "As Many Homers as you Please", New York Review of Books [20 November 2017] Barry Powell, acclaimed translator of the Iliad [OUP, 2013] and the Odyssey [OUP, 2014] now delivers a graceful, lucid, free-verse translation of the Aeneid in a pleasant modern idiom. On-page notes explain obscure literary and historical references, while the rich visual program lightens the text and educates students in the history of Western art by presenting a single topic as represented over 2,000 years.TheAeneid's first sentence charts the poem's historical plot, taking us in one sweep of seven lines from Homer's Troy to Augustus' Rome. These two layers of time are felt all the way through the poem, from the distant past of Aeneas'heroic and quasi-mythological time, over 1100 years before Vergil, down to the "now" of Augustus' Rome, when Vergil was writing the poem between 30 and 19 BC, a period of ongoing political experimentation.The story of Aeneas--moving from one continent to another, undergoing and enforcing great transformations in the process--transplants contemporary Augustan preoccupations with transition, continuity, and change into the remote time of the poem's action. In the course ofthe poem we move from the East to the West, from Troy to Italy, as Aeneas moves from being a Trojan towards being something else, a kind of Roman in embryo. The poem's migratory movement, together withits wholescale assimilation of Homer, acts out another great transition, the transition of Greek culture to Italy: just as the people of ancient Italy become the inheritors of Troy, so the people of Vergil's Italy become the inheritors of Greece. The very location of the poem in time is transitional, at the pivot between myth and history: the poem's characters are moving out of the era of Homer into the era of what Vergil would have considered non-fabulous history. In all these ways the Aeneidis a great poem of history, both as lived experience and as something constructed by people responding to the needs of society.Featuring a stellar, up-to-date introduction,on-page notes, embedded illustrations, five maps, a timeline of Roman history, and a genealogical chart, Powell's Aeneid offers a full immersion into the mythological and political workings of the poem. It is a book both good to think with, and good to teach with.
Barry Powell, acclaimed translator of the Iliad [OUP, 2013] and the Odyssey [OUP, 2014] now delivers a graceful, lucid, free-verse translation of the Aeneid in a pleasant modern idiom. On-page notes explain obscure literary and historical references, while the rich visual program lightens the
text and educates students in the history of Western art by presenting a single topic as represented over 2,000 years.
The Aeneid's first sentence charts the poem's historical plot, taking us in one sweep of seven lines from Homer's Troy to Augustus' Rome. These two layers of time are felt all the way through the poem, from the distant past of Aeneas' heroic and quasi-mythological time, over 1100 years before
Vergil, down to the "now" of Augustus' Rome, when Vergil was writing the poem between 30 and 19 BC, a period of ongoing political experimentation.
The story of Aeneas--moving from one continent to another, undergoing and enforcing great transformations in the process--transplants contemporary Augustan preoccupations with transition, continuity, and change into the remote time of the poem's action. In the course of the poem we move from the
East to the West, from Troy to Italy, as Aeneas moves from being a Trojan towards being something else, a kind of Roman in embryo. The poem's migratory movement, together with its wholescale assimilation of Homer, acts out another great transition, the transition of Greek culture to Italy: just as
the people of ancient Italy become the inheritors of Troy, so the people of Vergil's Italy become the inheritors of Greece. The very location of the poem in time is transitional, at the pivot between myth and history: the poem's characters are moving out of the era of Homer into the era of what
Vergil would have considered non-fabulous history. In all these ways the Aeneid is a great poem of history, both as lived experience and as something constructed by people responding to the needs of society.
Featuring a stellar, up-to-date introduction, on-page notes, embedded illustrations, five maps, a timeline of Roman history, and a genealogical chart, Powell's Aeneid offers a full immersion into the mythological and political workings of the poem. It is a book both good to think with, and good to
Is the Aeneid or the Odyssey better?
In this respect the Odyssey is better than the Aeneid and the Iliad because it's relatable. Odysseus isn't the son of a god, nor does he have divinely enhanced strength or fighting skills. All he has is his brain, sheer will to survive and his love of family and home to take him where he needs to be.
Whose translation of the Aeneid is the best?
Ezra Pound, an impresario of exquisite taste, praised Douglas's version for its fidelity to the Latin and its “richness and fervour,” and championed it as the best Aeneid translation [Emily Wilson, Passions and a Man, New Republic Online, 1/11/2007].
Is Aeneid a replica of the Odyssey?
The Odyssey and The Aeneid are some of the major epics created by the western civilizations. Virgil wrote his Aeneid as a certain replica of Homer's Odyssey's, which was aimed at glorifying Rome. Therefore, the two epics have a lot in common.
Is the Aeneid a continuation of the Odyssey?
In comparison, Homer's Odyssey was written hundreds of years before the Aeneid, and the character Odysseus travels for 10 years before making his way back to his homeland. Chronologically, the Odyssey comes before the Aeneid, but in terms of story, they occur concurrently.