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Module 9 English 31

The document provides an overview of Greek literature, beginning with a brief discussion of Mycenaean writings in Linear B script. It then focuses on the major epics of classical Greek literature - the Iliad and the Odyssey attributed to Homer. Key details covered include the time period and setting of the Trojan War in the Iliad, major characters on both sides of the conflict like Achilles and Hector, and the role of gods in influencing the human events of the story. Basic biographic details about Homer himself and the uncertainty around when he lived are also mentioned.

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Craig Hortaleza
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237 views15 pages

Module 9 English 31

The document provides an overview of Greek literature, beginning with a brief discussion of Mycenaean writings in Linear B script. It then focuses on the major epics of classical Greek literature - the Iliad and the Odyssey attributed to Homer. Key details covered include the time period and setting of the Trojan War in the Iliad, major characters on both sides of the conflict like Achilles and Hector, and the role of gods in influencing the human events of the story. Basic biographic details about Homer himself and the uncertainty around when he lived are also mentioned.

Uploaded by

Craig Hortaleza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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ENGLISH 31

World Literature
Greek Literature
Classical and Pre Classical Antiquity
• The earliest known Greek writings are Mycenaean, written in the
Linear B syllabary (a syllabic script that was used for writing
Mycenaean Greek) on clay tablets. These documents contain
prosaic records largely concerned with trade (lists, inventories,
receipts, etc.); no real literature has been discovered.
• Several theories have been advanced to explain this curious
absence. One is that Mycenaean literature, like the works of
Homer and other epic poems, was passed on orally, since the
Linear B syllabary is not well-suited to recording the sounds of
Greek (see phonemic principle).
• Greek literature was divided in well-defined literary genres,
each one having a compulsory formal structure, about
both dialect and metrics. The first division was between prose
and poetry.
• Fictional literature was written in verse, while scientific
literature was in prose. Within the poetry we could separate
three super-genres: epic, lyric and drama
• Lyric and drama were further divided into more genres: lyric
in four (elegiac, iambic, monodic lyric and choral lyric); drama
in three (tragedy, comedy and pastoral drama).
Epic Poetry
• At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two
monumental works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The
figure of Homer is shrouded in mystery. Although the works
as they now stand are credited to him, it is certain that their
roots reach far back before his time.
The Illiad
• The Iliad (sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilion or Song of
Ilium) is an epic poem in dactylic hexameters.
• Set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy
(Ilium) by a coalition of Greek states, it tells of the battles and
events during the weeks of a quarrel between King Agamemnon
and the warrior Achilles.
• Although the story covers only a few weeks in the final year of
the war, the Iliad mentions or alludes to many of the Greek
legends about the siege; the earlier events, such as the gathering
of warriors for the siege, the cause of the war, and related
concerns tend to appear near the beginning.
• The Iliad is among the oldest extant works of Western literature,
and its written version is usually dated to around the eighth
century BC.[2] In the modern vulgate, the Iliad contains 15,693
lines
• The Illiad is written in
Homeric Greek, a literary
amalgam of Ionic Greek and
other dialects.
• Homeric Greek
• Is the form of the Greek
language that was used
by Homer in
the Iliad and Odyssey. It is an
archaic version of Ionic Greek,
with admixtures from certain
other dialects, such as Aeolic
Greek.
Major Characters
• Acheans
• Agamemnon — King of Mycenae, leader of the Greeks.
• Achilles — Leader of the Myrmidons, half-divine war hero.
• Odysseus — King of Ithaca, the wiliest Greek commander and
hero of the Odyssey.
• Ajax the Greater — son of Telamon, with Diomedes, he is second
to Achilles in martial prowess.
• Menelaus — King of Sparta, husband of Helen and brother of
Agamemnon.
Major Characters
• Trojans
• Hector — son of King Priam and the foremost Trojan warrior.
• Paris — Helen’s lover-abductor.
• Priam — the aged King of Troy.
• Helen— daughter of Zeus; Menelaus’s wife; espoused first to
Paris, then to Deiphobus; her abduction by Paris precipitated the
war.
• Cassandra — Priam’s daughter; courted by Apollo, who bestows
the gift of prophecy to her; upon being rejected by her, he curses
her, and her warnings of Trojan doom go unheeded.
Achilles • Considered in Greek Mythology as
the greatest warrior ever born.
Achilles was the son of the nymph
Thetis and Peleus, the king of the
Myrmidons.
• Thetis tried to make him immortal, by
dipping him in the river Styx.
However, he was left vulnerable at
the part of the body by which she
held him his heel.
• Achilles' name can be analyzed as a
combination of ἄχος (akhos) "grief"
and λαός (Laos) "a people, tribe,
nation, etc." In other words, Achilles is
an embodiment of the grief of the
people.Achilles' role as the hero of
grief forms an ironic juxtaposition
with the conventional view of Achilles
as the hero of kleos(glory, usually
glory in war).
• Gods - In the literary Trojan War of the Iliad, the Olympic
gods, goddesses, and demigods fight and play great roles in
human warfare.

• Zeus (Neutral)
• Hera (Achaeans)
• Artemis (Trojans)
• Apollo (Trojans)
• Hades (Neutral)
• Aphrodite (Trojans)
• Ares (Trojans)
• Athena (Achaeans)
• Hermes (Neutral)
• Poseidon (Achaeans)
• Hephaestus (Neutral)
• In the Western classical tradition,

Homer Homer is the author of the Iliad and


the Odyssey, and is revered as the
greatest ancient Greek epic poet.
These epics lie at the beginning of
the Western canon of literature, and
have had an enormous influence on
the history of literature.
• When he lived is unknown.
Herodotus estimates that Homer
lived 400 years before Herodotus'
own time, which would place him at
around 850 BC;[1] while other
ancient sources claim that he lived
much nearer to the supposed time
of the Trojan War, in the early 12th
century BC.[2] Modern researchers
appear to place Homer in the 7th or
8th centuries BC.

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