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Influence of greek mythology on literature
Influence of greek mythology on literature
Greek effects on literature
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Greek mythologies arise from various cultural aspects of the Greek society; however, the role of the divinities in human affairs is particularly accentuated in most, if not all, Greek mythologies. Nevertheless, each author displays the role of divinities and supernatural differently, as Homer in The Odyssey and The Iliad displays direct interaction between the supernatural divinities and the mortals. On the other hand, Sophocles’ Antigone lessens such interactions and emphasizes the human role, while Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War completely ignores the notion of divine power, but focuses impartially on the actions of men and their consequences. Therefore, such difference of perspectives gives rise to the conflict between divine roles and human nature.
In History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides focused on the narration of factual and supported events without exaggeration as he indicates that “not far wrote in accepting conclusions I have reached from the evidence I have put forward” (Bk1, ch21). In this statement, Thucydides displays that his account of the events focuses mainly on human action. Moreover, He makes a particular point of ridiculing poets, Homer, who exaggerate the events to please the audience; Thucydides was a firm believer in that “subject matter mostly lost in the unreliable streams of mythology” (Bk1, ch 21-22). Consequently, when Thucydides proceeds to describe the plague that hit Athens, he refrained from relating the cause of such anguish to anger of gods or any supernatural powers, as the doctors were not able to diagnose the disease yet even birds that ate the corpses died as well. Rather, Thucydides gave an objective account of the plague as experienced without any speculation on the c...
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...nd The Odyssey exhibited the points discussed in Sophocles’ Antigone, and Thucydides History of the Peloponnesian War, yet each of the authors had a unique perspective of the events and the roles of both the gods, and human nature. However, Homer’s The Iliad contained more points of connection with the other works, thus events from the Iliad are more emphasized. Such emphasis arises from the fact that Homer’s Iliad was directly referenced in the other works, and the Iliad had a more extensive storyline with many characters involved. Despite the differences between both Homer’s books, both the main characters were manipulated by the constant interference of the supernatural deities, and they fallen victims to their own human natures and such was emphasized by.
Works Cited
Homer, Iliad
Homer, Odyssey
Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian Wars
Sophocles, Antigone
The ancient Greeks and Romans made a variety of contributions to western civilization in the field of literature. Both of these ancient cultures produced a variety of literary works which have persevered the test of time and continue to be studied today. One of the biggest contributions of the ancient Greeks to literature came from an author, who still relatively little is known about, Homer. Homer, believed by many to have been blind, is credited with the authorship of two of ancient Greece’s most famous epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. These two epic poems chronicle the final days of the Trojan War and the epic struggle Odysseus underwent on his sea voyage back to his home after the tragic war. These two epics have had a profound impact on western literature and continue to influence literary scholars and authors to this day. The following excerpt from Bio descries the impact of these ancient poems, “The Iliad and The Odyssey have provided not only seeds but fertilizer for almost all the other arts and sciences in Wester...
For this paragraph I will talk about religion. The greeks were polytheistic. Polytheistic means that you worship many gods. Some of the gods that they worshiped were Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, ect. They were worshipped on Mount Olympus. Poseidon and Athena play a big role in The Odyssey. One of Homer's ideas was dues ex machina, which means that a god swoops down and solves your problems and makes peace. I know one led to the other because the events in real life led to the creation of the event in The Odyssey.
The book written by Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, contains two controversial debates between distinguished speakers of Athens. The two corresponding sides produce convincing arguments which can be taken as if produced as an honest opinion or out of self-interest. The two debates must be analyzed separately in order to conclude which one and which side was speaking out of honest opinion or self-interest, as well as which speakers are similar to each other in their approach to the situation.
Grene, D., and Lattimore, R., eds. ?Antigone? and ?Prometheus Bound.? Greek Tragedies: Volume 1. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago, 1991. 178-232, 65-106.
In his account, he discusses the precursors to the war, including the 30 years truce and revolutions, such as the stasis in Corcyra. When looking at wars, the primary focus is normally the fighting itself, such as what we see in World War II. However, it is important to look at the anatomy of war, meaning what effect the war has on the people who are experiencing it first hand, and the consequences that the conflict has on the rest of the world. Therefore, in this essay I shall discuss, drawing directly from Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, how the civilians reacted to the war, their involvement and socio-economic factors. Furthermore, the first section of my essay shall focus on the direct effect of war on the people, regarding the plague, and violence and hopelessness that was experienced.
Homer and Hesiod were well-known epic poets that gave contribution to their culture by writing poetry on the different aspects and views of the Greek world. Homer’s long narrative poems dealt a lot with heroes at war, gods and goddesses involved with humans while Hesiod’s poetry is shorter, having little to do with heroes, and presents the importance of work and morality. Although the two poets have their own unique writing style, there are many differences and similarities in The Odyssey, Works and Days, and Iliad about beliefs in religion, description of women, and function of war.
The substantial influence from monotheistic cultures and cosmic deities are evident in Homeric Greek literature and Anglo-Saxon literature. The characters of Beowulf and The Iliad had connections with gods or god throughout the literature. In The Iliad, the characters are controlled and manipulated by the Greek Gods. Mortals in Homeric literature were depicted as fearful creatures. They lived in fear of displeasing these gods, and every mortal abided by the rules or laws that each Greek God commanded. The Greek Gods portrayed in Homeric literature interacted with the mortals manipulating their feeble existent according to their will and desires. Within the text of The Iliad the Gods are pitted against humans, amongst each other, against Zeus’ will, and Fate. Influence from Christian aphorisms and morals are dominant in Beowulf, these elements are infused with the Pagan culture of the time period. Christian morals are a point emphasized that impacted the characters throughout Beowulf. Both epic poems focus on a specific mortal and their conflict with themselves and divine forces. Beowulf and Achilles had divine forces that assisted them throughout their lives. Without the assistance of divine forces the characters would not have attained their notoriety and glory. The relationship
Thucydides, considered one of the greatest ancient historians, spent part of his life detailing the war between Athens and Sparta. In his work, The History of the Peloponnesian War, he includes a speech given by Pericles at the first Athenian funeral of the war. Right after the speech by Pericles, Thucydides follows with a description of the plague that cripples the population of the city. Thucydides does this to make a statement on his personal views of the Athenian society.
One example of this is the Greek definition of a hero. Hero’s in Greece, were traditionally people who showed their abilities as a warrior, physicality, courage, intelligence, self control, endurance, and honor (Homer 192). These qualities are encompassed by Homer’s characters Achilles and Odysseus. For example, Achilles is able to show his physicality, courage, abilities as a warrior, honor, and endurance as he quarrels with the Trojan Hector. Achilles courageously storms into the fight with Hector to honor his fallen comrade, and defeats him by using his endurance to chase him down and eventually use his physicality and warrior like aspects (Homer 207). Odysseus displays these ideals as he courageously trudges through the waters of the syrens. Odysseus knows the Syrens have voices of beauty that he cannot withstand so he intelligently fills his ears so he can no longer her and shows much self control as he moves through these treacherous waters for he is not tempted by their beauty either (Michalopoulos). This interprets how Homer incorporates a fundamental of Greek tradition into his writing. Another point that shows the Greek interference is in the inner meanings of the passages. In much of Homer’s works, one can witness instances of philosophy, oratory, generalship, and moral values. These are seen as Odysseus asks the gods for insight on what place he actually has in the world in the Odyssey. These ideas were widely studied by Greek philosophers alive in Homer’s time such as Socrates or Plato (Eustathios). One can look upon how Homer has been influenced by these philosophical ideas that were present in his time. Another way to witness the Greek influence of Homer is through the likeness of his epic hero, Odysseus and another Greek hero, Gilgamesh. Odysseus and Gilgamesh live almost entirely the same lives (Beye) This indefinitely portrays the idea that Odysseus and
Homer is credited for writing epics that generate source materials for the modern world. The Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer are captivating stories with fascinating heroic characters. The Homer stories share with classical mythology typical recurrent motifs. The two Homer epic poems focus on the Trojan War, and its result. The epic poems contain the Greek mythology featuring the Greek gods, goddesses, mythological creatures, and the Greek heroes, and heroines. In addition, the principal motifs typical of classical mythological hero stories are; the dominance of fate, evil fighting against the gods, and death. In both the classic mythology, and he modern fiction hero stories, the heroes always have a helper in their expedition, but ultimately, they have to stand alone, face the darkness, and conquer it in order to become victorious.
The gods treat the mortals lives like a game of sorts. The gods act and behave like their playing a board game with characters that can both move on their own and be easily moved by the gods hands. It is also a board game where the characters are aware of, rely on and are separated from the ones playing the game. The gods all pick sides and influence characters to do specific things to help the side they are on. In the Iliad there are 4 on each side, on the Trojan side are: Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, and Leto. On the Greek side are: Athena, Hera, Poseidon, and Hermes. Like a board game where they push the characters to do things that may end up causing things they don’t want to happen, to happen. Ei. Hector killing Patroclus which ends up lending to his death. Whose death was first initiated by Apollo s...
In the book the Iliad, The Odyssey, and Works and days, there are many things that can be similar when talking about Greek heroes and the world of Greek poetry. The stories and topics are describing similar events during this time of the eighth and seventh century B.C. In the end, however, they do have some differences in some parts when describing or explaining certain situations and ideas. The world of Greek heroes is written like a story; or Epic Poetry. That is what The Iliad and The Odyssey are; Epic Poetries. They are telling a story of a great hero and their adventures. On the other hand, the more realistic Greek World that is being described in Works and days is a Didactic poem, which tells more of a moral or message to the reader.
One of the most noticeable differences between the book and the movie is the absence of the Gods. In Homer's Iliad, the Gods played a major part in the Trojan War. Though the viewers are made aware that the characters believe in the Gods, the only God we see in the movie is Thetis, Achilles' mother. The omission of the Gods from the movie may give the audience a chance to view the characters more believable, however by omitting the Gods, the viewer did not get the full history of the characters.
In these two classic, epic poems told by Homer, the roles of the gods are very important to the characters and their journey throughout the books. It is always a positive or negative effect but the gods’ interference on mortals’ lives makes this an epic journey that has been remembered for thousands of years. The Iliad and the Odyssey are very different from each other in that the Iliad has more gods that effect the war and its outcome whereas the Odyssey only has two major gods that effect two characters.
Religion in ancient Greece was a major part of life and society. The religion related to all areas of life including how mankind even came into existence. Greek religion also consisted of temples, which covered the land, city festivals to commemorate the gods, and many myths. Polytheism was a major belief in Greek religion and it played a major role.