Barry Powell: Wie das Alphabet entstand

Barry B. Powell is the Halls-Bascom Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he taught for thirty-four years. He is the author of the widely used textbook Classical Myth (7th edition, 2011) and many other books. His A Short Introduction to Classical Myth (2001, translated into German) is a summary study of the topic. Homer and the Origin of the Greek Alphabet (1991) advances the thesis that a single man invented the Greek alphabet expressly in order to record the poems of Homer. Writing and the Origins of Greek Literature (2003), develops the consequence of this thesis. His critical study Homer (2nd edition, 2004, translated into Italian), is widely read as an introduction for philologists, historians, and students of literature. A New Companion to Homer (1997, with Ian Morris, translated into modern Greek), is a comprehensive review of modern scholarship on Homer. His The Greeks: History, Culture, Society (2nd edition, 2009, with Ian Morris, translated into Chinese) is a complete review, widely used in college courses. His Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization (2009, translated into Arabic) attempts to create a scientific terminology and taxonomy for the study of writing. His forthcoming text World Myth (2013) reviews the myths of the world. He is preparing a translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey for Oxford University Press. He has also written novels, poetry, and a screenplay. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his wife and cats.