The iliad and the odyssey6/15/2023 Fragments of Homer account for nearly half of all identifiable Greek literary papyrus finds. The two oldest surviving examples of Greek literature are the Iliad and the Odyssey, epic poems that describe the Trojan War, a conflict between the Greeks and the city of Troy that the epics say was fought almost 1200 years before the Common Era. Homer's works, which are about fifty percent speeches, provided models in persuasive speaking and writing that were emulated throughout the ancient and medieval Greek worlds. The Iliad and The Odyssey are the earliest works of Western literature and are the wellspring for much of Western culture. The formative influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece. Historian and writer Daisy Dunn goes in search of the poet of the Trojan War, exploring who Homer was and whether he ever actually existed. Most modern researchers place Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BCE. The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the worlds most famous poems but very little is known about their creator, Homer. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BCE, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th century BCE. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature. The formative influence of the Homeric epics in shaping Greek culture was widely recognized, and Homer was des In the Western classical tradition, Homer (Greek: Ὅμηρος) is considered the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. Most modern researchers place Homer in the 7th or 8th centuries BCE. If you want to have a chronological flow in your reading, Iliad is the way to go. The Iliad is a war epic full of passion and violence as Homer was still young by the time he composed it. Herodotus estimates that Homer lived 400 years before his own time, which would place him at around 850 BCE, while other ancient sources claim that he lived much nearer to the supposed time of the Trojan War, in the early 12th century BCE. In greek schools, Odyssey is the first epic to be teached as its 'fairytale' style makes it less complex and more entertaining. It is assumed that much of the poet's work has been lost to time.In the Western classical tradition, Homer (Greek: Ὅμηρος) is considered the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest of ancient Greek epic poets. Indeed, some scholars believe the name “Homer” was actually a commonly used term for blind men who wandered the countryside reciting epic poetry.Īlthough Homer has been credited with writing a number of other works, most notably the Homeric Hymns, the same uncertainty about authorship exists. Both The Iliad and The Odyssey conform to the diction of a purely oral and unwritten poetic speech that was used before the end of that century. By the eighth century BC, written text had been almost entirely forgotten in Greece. It is certain that neither text was written down upon creation. Differing historical details concerning trade also lend credence to the idea of separate authors. The diction of the two works is markedly different, with The Iliad being reminiscent of a much more formal, theatric style while The Odyssey takes a more novelistic approach and uses language more illustrative of day-to-day speech. There is much evidence to support the theory that The Iliad and The Odyssey were written by different authors, perhaps as much as a century apart. The Greeks regarded the great epics as something more than works of literature they knew much of them by heart, and they valued them not only as a symbol of Hellenic unity and heroism but also as an ancient source of moral and even practical instruction. What is undeniable is that the works of Homer proved to be the most influential not merely for the poets of ancient times but also for the later epic poets of Western literature. The Odyssey’s depiction of the bard as a minstrel in the service of local kings also gives some insight into the life of the poet practicing his craft. For instance, it is from the description of the blind bard in The Odyssey that many historians have guessed that Homer was blind. Due to the lack of information about Homer the person, many scholars hold the poems themselves as the best windows into his life. However, seven cities claimed to have been his birthplace. Historians place his birth sometime around 750 BC and conjecture that he was born and resided in or near Chios. Little is known about the life of Homer, the author credited with composing The Iliad and The Odyssey who is arguably the greatest poet of the ancient world.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |