In ancient Greece and even in modern times, Homer was revered as one of the most highly esteemed poets to record the tales of the ancient heroes. He was not simply a talented storyteller, however; more and more evidence is being uncovered that reveals that many of the Homeric texts present good evidence of events and cultures that actually took place and were large parts of the various societies surrounding these Ancient Greek heroes. From the gilded walls and frescoes depicting gods and battles, to the elaborate funerals thrown to celebrate the lives and deaths of great heroes, Homer's poems of the Iliad, the Odyssey, and others offer an insider's look into the lives and cultures of those living in Ancient Greece, and provide archaeologists and anthropologists with more context for the many puzzling ruins and pottery that are so often found.

One of the most obvious aspects of Grecian Culture (especially that of Mycenaean Greece) within the Homeric texts is that of an expanding empire. There was a great deal of warfare occurring and many sieges, and therefore a great many new cultures and people encountered by the Mycenaeans who were doing said expansion. As is common even within our own culture today, ancient Greeks would tell stories and makeup reasons that they were justified in taking over these foreign lands (Manifest Destiny, anyone?).

Many Greek conquerors cited the argument of Autochthonous creation; the concept that they sprang from the ground and therefore already had claim over the land. In fact, they were doing these savages a huge favor by civilizing them! Such ideals can be seen reflected in Homer's writings of Odysseus and his crew happening upon the island populated by the Cyclops. They immediately began to envision what the natives of the island might be like, and theorized that they would be "...violent, savage, lawless," (The Odyssey, 9.195). Polyphemus himself was shown to be a good farmer, caring of his goats, yet stupid and irreverent of human life, eating several of Odysseus' men while they were trapped in the cave with him. Strangers and foreign people and cultures, like Polyphemus, could be very dangerous and savage; it was the duty of the more civilized cultures such as the Mycenaeans to tame their wildness.

Yet another example of the link between Homer's writings and Grecian archaeology is that of the impressive monumentality of the Mycenaean palaces. In Homer's Odyssey, our hero makes his lonely way towards his homeland and must make a pitstop in Erechtheus' palace in Athens. Here, Odysseus is moved to speechlessness by the beauty and magnificence of the palace. Here it is described:

"A radiance as strong as the moon or the rising sun came flooding

Through the high-roofed walls of the generous King Alcinous.

Walls plated in bronze, crowned in a circular frieze,
Glazed as blue as lapis, ran to the left and right

From outer gates to the deepest court recesses…
And solid golden doors enclosed the palace…" (Lines 97-104)

The images depicted here refer to frescos and ceiling reliefs that have been found in Mycenaean palaces. The Mycenaean palaces were constructed with war in mind, and, as shown through the use of niello welding in much of the weaponry, they held warfare in high regard. The Mycenaeans imbued a great deal of effort into the pure aestheticism of their palaces and weaponry. The palaces were built sturdily and in highly elevated locations, strategically placed and conceived to give them the best advantage they could, and that advantage included, to an extent, pure intimidation. Mycenaean palaces were not only large but also made to look even more overwhelming by making them with recesses and building them at angles to best play with the light (also shown in lines 97 and 103). They specialized in production and storage and held multiple spaces for meetings and public gatherings. The walls, inner and outer, and even the ceilings were layered with plasters and tiled with elaborate paintings of deities and great accomplishments of their heroes.

Then there were the weapons; swords and spears that were regarded with almost the same reverence as their wielders, and armor forged with the great battles of the past and future victories held in mind. In the Iliad, Achilles is given a shield forged by Hephaestus himself, depicting various scenes from their culture and Achilles' own life (Iliad 18.478-608). The shield is described by Homer over the course of over one hundred lines, and later, his armor is given the same attention. This attention and care for the details of the weaponry show how dedicated Homer's characters were to honoring and beautifying warfare, and from the evidence found in Mycenaean sites, we can infer that Homer's writings were a reflection of the real customs and beliefs of the times.

Along the same lines as that of warfare and weaponry, we must also look at the heroism depicted in the Homeric texts, and examine how they may have been drawn from real-life ideologies of the time. In the Iliad, Achilles is shown as being without vulnerability on the battlefield; he was incredibly skilled, and repeatedly referenced in the epithet as the "swift-footed Achilles" (Iliad 1, 5, and 20) and is introduced in the first lines as having a "destructive wrath" (Iliad 1.1). From this, we may gather that the Mycenaeans valued such traits as strength, battle prowess, etc, and from this, we might assume that they were a bunch of meatheads. If, however, we continue to read the Iliad, Achilles' relationship with Patroclus and his love for his friend shows a much more sensitive, emotional side of the character. Achilles was not the only one to show such emotional depth, either, as Patroclus, described as the "best of the myrmidons" (Iliad 18.11) is also shown to appear with tears pouring down his face at the sight of his fellow warriors dying before him (Iliad 16.1-2).

Later in book 24, Priam and Achilles cry together in memory and honor of their fallen loved ones. From these excerpts, we can infer that the Mycenaeans, for all their glorification of warfare, also put great value in sensitivity and the strength of the friendships on the battlefield. According to Homer, and from the way that the Mycenaeans honored their fallen heroes and retold their stories (see the Salamis tombs and their resemblance to the funeral of Patroclus), this was a culture that was just as connected by the shared emotional experiences as they were by warfare.

The connection between Homer and his culture is undeniable. Being a writer myself, I can confirm that I am greatly affected by the culture that I am surrounded by; I have no doubt that Homer was like so many other great artists such as Shakespeare, Van Gogh, and even modern musicians such as Halsey, Hippo Campus, and James Bay who based their stories and their themes off of events and cultures that they themselves experienced. While his poems have been viewed for centuries as just that - poems, nothing more - it is imperative that we take into consideration the truth behind his lines.

The connections that can be drawn from the Homeric texts and anthropological findings of the past century are undeniable; we cannot afford to ignore them or treat them as if they are inconsequential. The Mycenaeans put too much effort into the preservation of their stories and their heroes, and Homer (whether he was one man or a collection of people compiling stories) put too much effort into recording these legends for us to allow them to fade into the background or to be brushed off as nothing more than fiction.