Greek Literature

Historical and Geographical Background…

Greek ♣ The name Greece comes from the Latin

Graecia which in turn comes from the Greek word Graikoi, the original name of the people living in Dodona. However, the word is used to address people living in Greece.

♣ The original Greek name was, and still is Hellas., the land of the Helens.

Greek

♣ Originally, this was a small area south of Thessalia, but it was widely used for people with a Greek background and culture, stretching from the West Coast of Asia Minor, southern Italy and Sicily to the Pyrenes and Northern Africa.

Greek ♣ Influences from their art and culture have

made a great impact on the European and American culture. Their highly organized society (even the word politics is a Greek word), their system of justice, and of course their art, the sculptures, statues, plays and mythology have been a major source of inspiration.

Greek Mythology..

Greek Mythology..

Greek Mythology

♣ Studying Greek Literature would always lead one to the study and understanding of its mythology. One would have to familiarize himself with the uniqueness of its gods and goddesses. The origin of this is unclear although it was believed to have been influenced by the Mediterranean whose origins lie in Crete and Asia Minor.

Greek Mythology

♣ The Greek mythological gods and goddesses were made out of their own image very different from the Egyptians and the others.

♣ They were believed to be the controller of the life of human beings.

Greek Mythology

♣ Greek gods were not supreme, almighty beings. They were looked upon as idealized human beings. They were powerful, but looked human and had the same flaws human had. They were immortal, didn’t get old or sick and had eternal youth, but they did have human flaws, desires and needs, such as hunger and thirst.

Zeus (Roman name: Jupiter)The most powerful of all,

♣ god of the sky and the king of Olympus.

♣ His temper affected the weather, and he threw thunderbolts when he was unhappy.

♣ He was married to Hera but had many other lovers.

♣ His symbols include the oak and the thunderbolt.

Hera (Roman name: Juno)

♣ Hera was goddess of marriage and the queen of Olympus.

♣ She was Zeus's wife and sister; many myths tell of how she sought revenge when Zeus betrayed her with his lovers.

♣ Her symbols include the peacock and the cow.

Poseidon (Roman name: Neptune)

♣ Poseidon was god of the sea. ♣ He lived in a beautiful palace under

the sea and caused earthquakes when he was in a temper.

♣ His symbols include the horse and the trident (a three-pronged pitchfork).

Aphrodite (Roman name: Venus)

♣ Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty, and the protector of sailors.

♣ She may have been the daughter of Zeus and the Titan Dione, or she may have risen from sea foam.

♣ Her symbols include the myrtle tree and the dove.

Apollo ♣ Apollo was the god of music and

healing. ♣ He was also an archer, and

hunted with a silver bow. Apollo was the son of Zeus and the Titan Leto, and the twin of Artemis.

♣ His symbols include the laurel tree, the crow, and the dolphin.

Ares (Roman name: Mars) ♣ Ares was the god of war. ♣ He was both cruel and a coward. ♣ Ares was the son of Zeus and

Hera, but neither of his parents liked him. ♣His symbols include the vulture and the dog, and he often carried a bloody spear.

Artemis (Roman name: Diana)

♣ Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and the protector of women in childbirth.

♣ She hunted with silver arrows and loved all wild animals.

♣ Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Apollo.

♣ Her symbols include the cypress tree and the deer.

Athena (Roman name: Minerva)

♣ Athena was the goddess of wisdom. ♣ She was also skilled in the art of war, and helped heroes such as Odysseus and Hercules.

♣ Athena sprang full-grown from the forehead of Zeus, and became his favorite child.

♣ Her symbols include the owl and the olive tree.

Hephaestus (Roman name: Vulcan)Hephaestus was the god of fire and the forge (a furnace in which metal is heated). Although he made armor and weapons for the gods, he loved peace. He was the son of Zeus and Hera and married Aphrodite.

♣ His symbols include the anvil and the forge.

Hermes (Roman name: Mercury)

♣ Hermes was the messenger god, a trickster, and a friend to thieves. He was said to have invented boxing and gymnastics.

♣ He was the son of Zeus and the constellation Maia.

♣ The speediest of all, he wore winged sandals and a winged hat and carried a magic wand.

Demeter (Roman name: Ceres) ♣ Demeter was the goddess of the

harvest. The word “cereal” comes from her Roman name.

♣ She was the sister of Zeus. ♣ Her symbols include wheat.

Hestia (Roman name: Vesta)

♣ Hestia was the goddess of the hearth (a fireplace at the center of the home).

♣ She was the most gentle of the gods, and does not play a role in many myths.

♣ Hestia was the sister of Zeus and the oldest of the Olympians.

♣ Fire is among her symbols.

Ancient Greek Literature

-refers to literature written in Ancient Greek from the oldest surviving written works in the Greek language until approximately the fifth century AD and the rise of the Byzantine Empire.

- arose from the proto-Indo-European language, though roughly one-third of its words cannot be derived from various reconstructions of the tongue. --

Ancient Greek Literature

♣ A number of alphabets and syllabifies had been used to render Greek, but surviving Greek literature was written in a Phoenician-derived alphabet that arose primarily in Greek Ionia and was fully adopted by Athens by the fifth century BC.

Ancient Greek Literature

♣ At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two monumental works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The other great poet of the preclassical period was Hesiod. His two surviving works are Works and Days and Theogony.

Ancient Greek Literature -30% of the words in a ordinary dictionary comes from the ancient Greek language.

Ancient Greeks were the first to use vowels. The vowels made the language easier to learn and speak.

- Our alphabet came from the Greek language.For example: the word “alphabet” came from ancient Greek words “alpha” “beta”.

Ancient Greek Literature Ancient Greek literature had four major writings; epic traditions, lyric poetry, tragedy and comedy.

An example of the epic traditions are the Iliad and the Odyssey.

Lyric poems got its name from a group of individuals singing while playing the lyre.

Tragedies and comedies were dramas and used to honour Greek god Dionysus.

WHAT DO THEY SPOKE?These are the five main dialects of ancient Greek that have been found on inscriptions:

Attic-Ionic Greek

Achaean

Aeolic

Doric

Northwest Greek

EDUCATION

EDUCATIONGREECE

ATHENS(MIND)

SPARTA(BODY)

EDUCATION in Ancient GreeceThe way children were educated was different in each city state.In Sparta, reading and writing was unimportant. Boys learned to be good fighters.

In Athens, citizens had to be educated to take part in voting in the Assembly. Athenian boys also went to 'wrestling school' each day, to learn many sports, not just wrestling. They had to be fit, to fight in the army.

Schools ♣ Greek schools were small. They had only one

teacher and about ten or twenty boys. The schools were not free and so only the rich could really afford to send their children to school.

♣ They don’t need much of school equipments, as they had learn everything off by heart.

♣ They used a wooden pen called a stylus with a sharp end for writing and a flat end for 'rubbing out'.

ATHENS : EDUCATION In ancient Athens, the purpose of

education was to produce citizensTrained in the arts, and to prepare citizens for both peace and war.

Until age 6 or so, boys were taught at home by their mother or by a male slave.

Books were very expensive and rare, so subjects were read out-loud, and the boys had to memorize everything. To help them learn, they used writing tablets and rulers.

Their In primary school, they

had to learn two important things – the words of Homer and how to play lyre.

Their teacher, who was always a man, could choose what additional subjects he wanted to teach. He might to teach drama, public speaking, government, art, writing, math, and how to play another ancient Greek instrument – flute.

Following that, boys attended a higher school for four more years. When they turned 18, they entered military school for two additional years. At age 20, they graduated.

Girls – were not allowed to go to school. They were educated in housekeeping and how to look after the family.

SPARTA : EDUCATIONIn Ancient Sparta, the purpose of education was to produce a well-drilled, well-disciplined marching army.

Spartans believe in a life of discipline, self-denial, and simplicity. They were very loyal to the state of Sparta. Every Spartan, male or female, was required to have a perfect body.

♣When babies were born in ancient Sparta, Spartan soldiers would come by the house and check the baby. If the baby did not appear healthy and strong, the infant was taken away, and left to die on a hillside, or taken to be trained as a slave (a helot).

Spartan Boys : Spartan boys were sent to military school at age 6 or 7. They lived, trained and slept in the barracks of their brotherhood. They were taught survival skills and other skills necessary to be a great soldier..

Important Authors

HOMER

Homer is best known for the two epic poems the Iliad and the Odyssey.

the Greek blind poet

Sophocles

a Greek dramatist

Wrote 123 plays (only 7 survived)

Died in 406 B.C at Athens

His main work is The Elements which is still used as a textbook in mathematics.

EUCLID

PLATO

The most famous works The Republic and Symposium.

Aristophanes He was a playwright

who wrote comedies.

His notable plays, The Wasps and Lysistrata.

EURIPIDES Was a Greek tragedian.

His most known works are Alcestis, Medea and The Bacchus.

Diffent Ages Of Ancient

Greece Literature

The Homeric

AgeThis age marked the creation of the Greek epics, The Iliad and The Odyssey. Thi8s age was preceded by unknown literature which were mostly unwritten.

The Attic Age

♣ This is the period of the emergence of excellent playwrights like Aeschylus, Soppocles, Euripides, and Aristtophanes.; great historianslike Herodotus and Thucitides; and Philosophers like Amagoras and Socrates

♣ This period was the most glorious in ancient history that revolves around great political leader in the person of PericlesIt is also known as Periclean Age.

The Hellenic Age

♣ This age began after the death of Demosthenes in 322 B.C. The following year just after the death of Alexander the di8vision of his empire. The literary prominence of Athens passed to Alexandria, a city in Egypt founded by Alexander. Alexandria, then became the metropolis of the Hellenistic world.

Modern Greek

Modern Greek

Literature ♣ Recognized as masters of modern Greek

letters, Seferis and Elytis received the Novel Prize Literature, in 1963 and 1979, respectively.

♣ The poet Maria Polydouri (1902-30) gain renown thgrough her intense, erotic love lyrics.

♣ The effort of modern Greek writers to achieve a synthesis of the rich traditions o9f the Greek heritage is well represented in the wok of Nikos Kazantzakis.

Modern Greek

Literature ♣ In general, 20th century Greek literature reflects the evolution of European modernism in such various forms as French symbolism and surrealism or British American experiment in narrative techniques.

♣ Symbolism appears in the work of George Seferis and George Kostiras, surrealism in that of Oddyseus Elytis.

Greek Influence

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Modern Greek

LiteratureDemocracy: The Greeks created the world’s first democracy. Athens started out as a monarchy and then advanced to and oligarchy until it finally reached a democracy.

Modern Greek

LiteratureThe Alphabet: ♣ The Greeks were the first civilization to use

an alphabet. ♣ The Alphabet was developed after the Dark

Age when the Greeks stopped using their previous written language.

♣ Today many letters of our modern alphabet originate from the Greek alphabet such as the letters A, B, E, and O.

Modern Greek

LiteratureLibraries: The first library in the world, the library of Alexandria was actually built in Egypt, however Egypt was pretty much Greeks because after Egypt submitted to Alexander’s rule the Macedonians started spreading the Greek way of life to all of the lands he conquered including Egypt. A

Modern Greek

LiteratureThe Olympics: The Olympic Games started in ancient Greece. The participants were the city-states of Ancient Greece and their colonies. The Olympic Games were held every 4 years in honor of Zeus, the king god.

Modern Greek

LiteratureArchitecture: We still use Greek-style architecture today. A type of Greek Architecture that is used today would be pillars.

♣ In Greece a building which pillars were used would be the Parthenon located in Athens.