Greek Poetry & Fables.
Greek poems and stories are the oldest in the Western world. For hundreds of years, Europeans and Americans have used these early works as models for their own poems and stories. Shakespear, for example borrowed many greek plots and settings.
Homer
Homer's epic poems, the Lilad and the Odysey are famous, but untill the 1900's historians belived that Homer never existed. Historians now know that Homer, was in fact a real person, but they still debate wether or not he wrote his poems alone, or had help from other poets.
Many historians have speculated, or made educated guesses, about Homer's personal life. Some say that Homer came from Ionia, and seven cities claim to be his birthplace. Some belive that he was blind, Others belive that he wandered from town to town.
Ledgends tell of homer's strong influence on his readers. For example; as a young child, Alexander the Great is said to have slept with a copy of the Lilad under his pillow.
Homer used the term aoidos for a poet. This word means "singer", which tells us that the poetry created during Homer's time was memorized and recited, not written down. Usually, short, simple poems that were easy to remember were told to an audience as entertainment.
Homer created a different style of poetry all Western literature that followed. His epics are long and involve complex characters, dramatic action, and interesting events. Because each section of the Lilad and the Odyssey has these characteristics, most historians today think that only one poet could have created both epocs/ Whoever Homer was, his two epics have influenced readers, for more than 3,000 years.
Many historians have speculated, or made educated guesses, about Homer's personal life. Some say that Homer came from Ionia, and seven cities claim to be his birthplace. Some belive that he was blind, Others belive that he wandered from town to town.
Ledgends tell of homer's strong influence on his readers. For example; as a young child, Alexander the Great is said to have slept with a copy of the Lilad under his pillow.
Homer used the term aoidos for a poet. This word means "singer", which tells us that the poetry created during Homer's time was memorized and recited, not written down. Usually, short, simple poems that were easy to remember were told to an audience as entertainment.
Homer created a different style of poetry all Western literature that followed. His epics are long and involve complex characters, dramatic action, and interesting events. Because each section of the Lilad and the Odyssey has these characteristics, most historians today think that only one poet could have created both epocs/ Whoever Homer was, his two epics have influenced readers, for more than 3,000 years.
The trojan war
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city
of Troy
by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important
events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad relates a part of
the last year of the siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes Odysseus's journey home. Other parts of the war
are contained in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through
fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek
tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave
them a golden
apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus
sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should
receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all
women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus,
led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years
because of Paris' insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the
Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of
the Trojan
Horse. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans (except for some of
the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves) and desecrated the
temples, thus earning the gods' wrath. Few of the Achaeans
returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The
Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, who was said to have
led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy.
The ancient Greeks thought that the Trojan War was a
historical event that had taken place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and
believed that Troy was located in modern-day Turkey near the Dardanelles. By modern times, both the war and
the city were widely believed to be non-historical. In 1868, however, the German
archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank
Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was at Hissarlik and
Schliemann took over Calvert's excavations on property belonging to Calvert;[1] this
claim is now accepted by most scholars.[2][3]
Whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War is an open
question. Many scholars believe that there is a historical core to the tale,
though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various
tales of sieges and expeditions by Mycenaean Greeks during the Bronze
Age. Those who believe that the stories of the Trojan War are
derived from a specific historical conflict usually date it to the 12th or 11th
centuries BC, often preferring the dates given by Eratosthenes, 1194–1184 BC, which roughly
corresponds with archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of Troy
VIIa.[4]
of Troy
by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important
events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably through Homer's Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad relates a part of
the last year of the siege of Troy; the Odyssey describes Odysseus's journey home. Other parts of the war
are contained in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through
fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek
tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid.
The war originated from a quarrel between the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite, after Eris, the goddess of strife and discord, gave
them a golden
apple, sometimes known as the Apple of Discord, marked "for the fairest". Zeus
sent the goddesses to Paris, who judged that Aphrodite, as the "fairest", should
receive the apple. In exchange, Aphrodite made Helen, the most beautiful of all
women and wife of Menelaus, fall in love with Paris, who took her to Troy. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus,
led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years
because of Paris' insult. After the deaths of many heroes, including the
Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of
the Trojan
Horse. The Achaeans slaughtered the Trojans (except for some of
the women and children whom they kept or sold as slaves) and desecrated the
temples, thus earning the gods' wrath. Few of the Achaeans
returned safely to their homes and many founded colonies in distant shores. The
Romans later traced their origin to Aeneas, one of the Trojans, who was said to have
led the surviving Trojans to modern day Italy.
The ancient Greeks thought that the Trojan War was a
historical event that had taken place in the 13th or 12th century BC, and
believed that Troy was located in modern-day Turkey near the Dardanelles. By modern times, both the war and
the city were widely believed to be non-historical. In 1868, however, the German
archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann met Frank
Calvert, who convinced Schliemann that Troy was at Hissarlik and
Schliemann took over Calvert's excavations on property belonging to Calvert;[1] this
claim is now accepted by most scholars.[2][3]
Whether there is any historical reality behind the Trojan War is an open
question. Many scholars believe that there is a historical core to the tale,
though this may simply mean that the Homeric stories are a fusion of various
tales of sieges and expeditions by Mycenaean Greeks during the Bronze
Age. Those who believe that the stories of the Trojan War are
derived from a specific historical conflict usually date it to the 12th or 11th
centuries BC, often preferring the dates given by Eratosthenes, 1194–1184 BC, which roughly
corresponds with archaeological evidence of a catastrophic burning of Troy
VIIa.[4]