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Greek literature. Moreover, you will find other useful resources about Greek like words, schools, Greek literature and more

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    • Greek Literature

    Over a period of more than ten centuries, the ancient Greeks created a literature of such brilliance that it has rarely been equalled and never surpassed. In poetry, tragedy, comedy, and history, Greek writers created masterpieces that have inspired, influenced, and challenged readers to the present day.

    Their writing is traditionally divided into different types:

    Epic:

    Around 700 BC, Homer wrote two connected epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The `Iliad' is the famous story about the Trojan War. It centres on the person of Achilles, who embodied the Greek heroic ideal. While the `Iliad' is pure tragedy, the `Odyssey' is a mixture of tragedy and comedy. It is the story of Odysseus, one of the warriors at Troy. After ten years fighting the war, he spends another ten years sailing back home to his wife and family. Both of these works were based on ancient legends. The stories are told in language that is simple, direct, and eloquent. Both are as fascinatingly readable today as they were in ancient Greece.

    Epics are long poems which tell the story of a hero. A kind of epic from Western Asia, written about 2500 BC, is the Epic of Gilgamesh. Another epic, from Rome in 19 BC, is Virgil's Aeneid.

    Poem:

    Two early Greek examples are Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days, both from around 700 BC. There are also a number of shorter poems by Archilochus and Sappho from the 600's BC, among others.

    The first of the lyric poets was probably Archilochus of Paros about 700 BC. Only fragments remain of his work, as is the case with most of the poets. The two major poets were Sappho and Pindar. Sappho, who lived in the period from 610 to 580 BC, has always been admired for the beauty of her writing. Her themes were personal. Sappho's poems are the only surviving literature by a Greek woman.

    Play:

    Plays are divided into tragedies and comedies. The oldest tragedies that we still have were written by Aeschylus around 500 BC. We also have tragedies written by Sophocles (around 450 BC) and Euripides (around 425 BC). The oldest comedies that we still have are by Aristophanes, and were also written around 425 BC. Some later comedies were written by Menander around 350 BC. Plays are also written in verse, like poems.

    History:

    Two major histories that we still have are those by Herodotus and Thucydides. About 450 BC, Herodotus wrote a history of the Persian Wars. About 400 BC, Thucydides wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War. After the Peloponnesian War, Xenophon wrote about his adventures as a mercenary soldier for the Persians. During the Roman takeover of Greece, Polybius wrote a History of Rome in Greek. These are all written in prose.

    Philosophical dialogues and treatises

    The first written philosophy was written by Plato around 380 BC in the form of a kind of play, two or more people talking to each other. Later on both Plato and his student Aristotle wrote regular philosophical books, in prose without dialogues.

    Legal speeches and political speeches

    The first speeches we have surviving are from the 300's BC. The three most famous speechwriters were Lysias , Isocrates, and Demosthenes.

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