Halls-Bascom Professor of Classics Emeritus 910 Van Hise Hall 1220 Linden Drive University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI 53706 608/262-2041 bbpowell@wisc.edu

RESEARCH INTERESTS 1. Greek poetry (esp. Homer) 2. History of writing 3. Mythology 4. Egyptology SOME PUBLICATIONS BOOKS THE ODYSSEY: A New Translation (Oxford, forthcoming 2014). THE ILIAD: A New Translation (Oxford, forthcoming 2013). World Myth (Prentice-Hall, forthcoming 2012). The myths of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Canaan, Greece, Rome, Persia, India, China, Japan, Scandinavia, Celtic lands, Mexico, Oceania, North America, and Africa, 600 pages A Land of Slaves: A Novel (Pegasus Books, 2012). Academic mystery and satire set in Madison, Wisconsin, 325 pages. read review ORDER HERE Ilias, Odysseia (Chester River Press, 2009). Greek text, with translation of Alexander Pope. 1000 pages. (Oxford, forthcoming 2014). Writing: Theory and History of the Technology of Civilization (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009). The principles that underlie the world's writing systems, with a review of historical development, 300 pages read review ORDER HERE The Greeks: History, Culture, Society, second edition (with Ian Morris; Prentice-Hall, 2009). Concise description of Greek culture, with many illustrations, 602 pages read review ORDER HERE The War at Troy: A True History (Xlibris, 2006). Mock epic, with original black and white photographs, 400 pages read review ORDER HERE Rooms Containing Falcons (Xlibris, 2006). Poems, with original black and white photographs, 108 pages read review ORDER HERE Ramses in Nighttown, A Novel (Xlibris, 2005). Itinerant scholar travels through strange worlds, including Berkeley in the 1960s, Greece, Cairo. 398 printed pages read review ORDER HERE Homer (Blackwell, 2003). Concise review of criticism, discussion of the Iliad and the Odyssey,and bibliograhic essay, 178 pages; second edition 2007 read review ORDER HERE FIRST EDITION read review ORDER HERE SECOND EDITION Omero (il Mulino, 2006). Italian translation. ORDER HERE Writing and the Origins of Greek Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2003), including chapters on the oral and written in Greek and Near Eastern traditions; composition in writing and the dictated text; the origin of mythic representation in Greek art from eastern exemplars; social role of the rhapsode; uses of alphabetic literacy and the demoticization of Greek legend, 210 pages ORDER HERE A Short Introduction to Classical Myth (Prentice-Hall, 2002), 230 pages read review ORDER HERE A New Companion to Homer, editor (with Ian Morris; E. J. Brill, 1997). Essays on Homer by many scholars, 752 pages; Modern Greek translation from D. A. Papadimas Editions read review ORDER HERE Classical Myth (Prentice-Hall, 7^th edition, 2011). Greek and Roman myths in their historical, social, literary, and anthropological context, 685 pages read review ORDER HERE Homer and the Origin Of the Greek Alphabet (Cambridge University Press, 1991; reprinted, 1993, 1994; paperback, 1996). How one man invented the alphabet to record Homer's verse, 280 pages read review ORDER HERE Composition by Theme in the Odyssey (Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie, Meisenheim am Glan, 1977). Generative patterns of composition in tales told in the Odyssey, 66 pages SOME CHAPTERS IN BOOKS "Mündlichkeit, Buchstäblichkeit, und andere Paradigmata in der Forschung zur griechischen Kultur" (in German), in W. Ernst, F. Kittler eds., in Die Geburt des Vokalalphabets aus dem Geist der Poesie Schrift, Zahl und Ton im Medienverbund (Fink Verlag, Paderborn, 2006), 15-30 articles on "Teiresias," "Calchas," and"Mopsus" in Holy People of the World: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2003) "Seals and Writing in the Ancient Near East and Cyprus: Conclusions from Context," in J. S. Smith ed., Script and Seal Use on Cyprus in the Bronze and Iron Age (Colloquia and Conference Papers 4, Archaeological Institute of America, Boston, 2002) 227-248 "The Inventor of the Alphabet: A Retrospective," in Die Geschichte der Hellenischen Sprache und Schrift, Verein zur Foerderung der Aufarbeitung der Hellenischen Geschichte (Ohlstadt/Oberbayern, Germany, 1999), 435-447 "Writing and Homer," in A New Companion to Homer, eds. Barry B. Powell and Ian Morris (E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1997) 1-32 "From Picture to Myth, From Myth to Picture: Prolegomena to the Invention of Mythic Representation in Greek Art," in From Pasture to Polis (University of Missouri Press, 1997) 144-193 Writing, Oral Poetry, and the Invention of the Narrative Style in Greek Art," in The Odyssey and Ancient Art: An Epic in Word and Image (catalogue for traveling exhibition organized by Bard College, Annandale-on Hudson, New York, 1992) 180-185 "The Origins of Alphabetic Literacy Among the Greeks," in Phoinikeia Grammata. Lire et écrire en Méditerranée, Collection d'études classiques, vol. 6 (Liège, Belgium, 1991) 357-370 "The West, the Non-West, Liberal Education, and Sophocles' Antigone," in Cultural Literacy and the Core Curriculum," A Report of the Meiklejohn Education Foundation's 1990 Curriculum (Sonoma, California, 1991) SOME SCHOLARLY ARTICLES "Deciphering Cretan Scripts,"Archaeology Odyssey 7 (2) (2004), 38-43. "Seals and Writing in the Ancient Near East and Cyprus: Conclusions from Context," AIA publication series for colloquia and conference Papers 4, Archaeological Institute of America, (Boston 2002) 227-248 "Text, Orality, Literacy, Tradition, Dictation, Education, and other Paradigms of Exegesis," Oral Tradition (2001), 96-125 The Alphabet in Theory and in History, The Gail A. Burnett Lectures in Classics (2000, Department of Classics, San Diego State University, California): 25 printed pages "Who Invented the Alphabet: The Semites or the Greeks?" Archaeology Odyssey 1 (1) (Premiere issue, 1998): 44-53; 70. "Did Homer Sing at Lefkandi?" Electronic Antiquity 1 (2) (1994): 1-27 "The Orazio Lirico of Giorgio Pasquali: Its Place in His Career and in the History of Horatian Scholarship," Syllecta Classica 3 (1991): 37-44 "The Greek Alphabet, A Writing That Changed the World," Intent (1991) "Why Was the Greek Alphabet Invented? The Epigraphic Evidence," Classical Antiquity 8 (1989): 321-350 "The Dipylon Oinochoe Inscription and the Spread of Literacy in 8th Century Greece," Kadmos, Zeitschrift für vor- und frühgriechische Epigraphik 27 (1988): 65-86 "The Origin of the Puzzling Supplementals Φ Χ Ψ," Transactions of the American Philological Association 117 (1987): 1-20; abstract in Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (1989) "Egyptian Religion and Anthropophagy in Juvenal's Fifteenth Satire," Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 68 (1978): 1-5 "The Linguiform Atlatl Weight: Toward a Reformed Typology of the Polished Stone Gorget," Wisconsin Archaeologist 59 (1978): 358-378 "Word Patterns in the Catalogue of Ships: A Structural Analysis of Homeric Language," Hermes 106 (1978): 255-264 "The Significance of the So-Called 'Horns of Consecration,'" Kadmos, Zeitschrift für vor- und frühgriechische Epigraphik 16 (1977): 70-82 "Poeta Ludens: Thrust and Counter-thrust in Eclogue 3," Illinois Classical Studies 1 (116): 113-121 "The Ordering of Tibullus Book 1," Classical Philology 69 (1974): 107-112 "Narrative Pattern in the Homeric Tale of Menelaus," Transactions of the American Philological Association 101 (1970): 419-431 BOOK REVIEWS IN American Historical Review American Journal of Archaeology Anzeiger für die Altertumswissenschaft Archaeology Odyssey Bryn Mawr Classical Review Cambridge Archaeological Journal Classical Review Electronic Antiquity Hebrew Studies Intent Journal of Roman Studies Journal of Indo-European Studies Mousaion Phoenix Religious Studies Review Scholia Wisconsin Academy Review RADIO AND TV SHOWS The Real Trojan War, produced by Gary Glassman for History Channel TV (forthcoming 2004) Homer, four one-hour shows hosted by Norman Gilleland and Emily Auerbach, WHA-FM (University of the Air) (September 1997) PUBLICATIONS ON THE INTERNET Use this link for INNOCENTS ABROAD: AN AMERICAN CLASSICIST IN CHINA Back to Classics Back to the Department Faculty Page