Giacomo Tripodi (ed.), Iliad and Odyssey in the North of Europe – Proceedings of the Workshop “Toija and the roots of European civilisation”, Toija, Finland, August 10th 2007 (Messina: Armando Siciliano Editore, 2009)

Classical scholarship has profited, upon occasion, from the contributions of talented or inspired outsiders. Particularly notable in these regards, in the case of Homeric studies, have been the insights, and the detailed work, of Heinrich Schliemann, Milman Parry, and Michael Ventris. One wants never to disavow or disdain what may prove to be brilliant or helpful additions to the inevitably partly speculative domains of investigation into the early literature and the archaeology of the Hellenic peoples. At the same time these same territories have attracted more than their share of wild, sometimes completely crackpot would-be contributions, from people with more time on their hands and enthusiasm for Homeric or legendary topics than skill or sense. How to tell the difference, or to separate wheat from chaff?