Where does Homer come from? And why does Homer matter? His epic poems of war and
suffering can still speak to us of the role of destiny in life, of cruelty, of
humanity and its frailty, but why they do is a mystery. How can we be so intimat
e with something so distant? 'The Mighty Dead' is a magical journey of discovery
across wide stretches of the past, sewn together by some of the oldest stories
we have - the great ancient poems of Homer and their metaphors of life and troub
le. In this provocative and enthralling book, Adam Nicolson explains why Homer s
till matters and how these vital, epic verses - with their focus on the eternal
questions about the individual versus the community, honour and service, love an
d war - tell us how we became who we are.
