GREEK

LITERATURE
Prepared by Group 4:
Donafe Fernandez
Vanessa Cornelio
Cedrick Bonux
The Greeks…

Greeks or Hellenes are ethnic

group native to Greece,
Cyprus and other countries
that surrounds the
Mediterranean Sea.
Ancient Greek 800 BC-350 AD
Literature

Byzantine
Literature 290 AD–1453 AD

Modern Greek
Literature 1453 AD- Present
 Ancient Greek Literature

Pre-classical Hellenistic

Classical Greco-Roman
Byzantine Literature
Also called as Greek literature of the Middle
Ages
Two sources: Classical and Christian
Much of Byzantine literature was didactic in
tone, and often in content too. And much of it
was written for a limited group of educated
readers.
Modern Literature
Written in common Modern Greek.

The modern vernacular form of the Greek

language became more commonplace in
writing.

Revival of Greek and Roman studies and

the development of Renaissance
humanism and science.
Famous
Greek
Writers and
their works
Homer

Believed by ancient Greeks to be the first and greatest epic poet.

He is the author of the best known epic poems, The Iliad and Odyssey.
Iliad and Odyssey
The Iliad focuses on a quarrel between
King Agamemnon and the warrior
Achilles lasting a few weeks during the
last year of the war.
The Odyssey focuses on the journey
home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after
the fall of Troy.
Hesiod

First written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an

individual persona with an active role to play in his subject.

He is known for his “The Theogony”.

The Theogony

“The genealogy of the gods”

It is the first Greek mythical cosmogony.

It describes the origins and genealogies of

Greek gods.
 The Greek Gods Aphrodite- Goddess of Love and
Zeus- God of the sky
Beauty
Hera- Goddess of Marriage, Mothers and
Hermes- God of the Roadways,
Families
Travelers, Merchants and Thieves
Poseidon- God of the sea
Dionysus- God of wine
Demeter- Goddess of agriculture
Hades- God of Underworld
Ares- God of war
Hypnos- God of sleep
Athena- Goddess of Wisdom, War, and
Nike- Goddess of victory
Useful Arts
Janus- God of beginnings, choices
Apollo -God of archery, music, poetry,
and doorways
prophecy, medicine, and later on the god
of the sun Nemesis- Goddess of revenge
Artemis- Goddess of the moon, the hunt, Iris- Goddess of the rainbow,
and young maidens messenger of the gods
Tyche- Goddess of good luck and fortune Hecate- Goddess of magic,
crossroads and ghosts
Hephaestus- God of blacksmiths and fire
 Sappho

She was an archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos.

Her famous work is “Ode to Aphrodite”.

Ode to Aphrodite
 It is a lyric poem by Sappho, in which
the speaker calls on the help of Aphrodite
in the pursuit of a beloved.
The seriousness with which Sappho
intended the poem is disputed, though at
least parts of the work appear to be
intentionally humorous.
Pindar
of Thebes

Of the canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his

work is the best preserved.
Theocritus

He is the creator of ancient Greek bucolic poetry.

Bucolic means a pastoral poem.
Callimachus

He is among the most productive and influential scholar-poets

of the Hellenistic age.

He composed the “Pinakes”.

Pinakes
"Pinakes" may be plural of pinax, a votive
tablet that served as a votive object
deposited in a sanctuary or burial
chamber.
Apollonius
of Rhodes

He is the author of Argonautica.

Argonautica

Ittells the myth of the voyage of Jason

and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden
Fleece from remote Colchis.
Vitsentzos
Kornaros

He is considered to be the greatest of all the Cretan poets and one of

the most significant and influential figures in the entire course of
Greek poetry.

He is the author of Erotokritos.

Erotokritos
It consists of 10,012 fifteen-syllable rhymed
verses, the last twelve of which refer to the poet
himself.
It is written in the Cretan dialect of the Greek
language.
Its central theme is love between Erotokritos (only
referred to the work as Rotokritos or Rokritos) and
Aretousa.
It remains a popular work to this day, largely due
to the music that accompanies it when it is publicly
recited.
Adamantios
Korais

He was a Greek humanist scholar credited with laying the

foundations of Modern Greek literature and a major figure in
the Greek Enlightenment.
 Kostis Palamas

He was the “National Poet of Greece”

A Greek poet who wrote the words to the

Olympic Hymn.
Olympic Hymn
The anthem was performed for the first
time for the ceremony of opening of the
first edition at the 1896 Summer
Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Amanda
Michalopoulou

One of Greece’s top contemporary writers, Michalopoulou’s

work has been recognized with two Greek literary awards,
including the Revmata Prize and the Diavazo Award.

She is the author of “Why I Killed My Best Friend”

Why I Killed My Best Friend
Itis the story of Maria who is uprooted from her
beloved Africa when her family relocates to her
native Greece. Struggling with the new move,
she hates everything about Athens, but things are
about to change when she meets Anna Horn, who
recently moved from Paris. The girls instantly
bond, and a friendship is born. The book is a
bittersweet portrait of a friendship between two
girls, with all the underlying power struggles
between them over their 30-year relationship.
Famous Greek
Literary Pieces
The Iliad
Nine years after the start of the Trojan War, the Greek (“Achaean”) army sacks Chryse, a town allied with Troy.
During the battle, the Achaeans capture a pair of beautiful maidens, Chryseis and Briseis. Agamemnon, the leader
of the Achaean forces, takes Chryseis as his prize, and Achilles, the Achaeans’ greatest warrior, claims Briseis.
Chryseis’s father, Chryses, who serves as a priest of the god Apollo, offers an enormous ransom in return for his
daughter, but Agamemnon refuses to give Chryseis back. Chryses then prays to Apollo, who sends a plague upon
the Achaean camp.

After many Achaeans die, Agamemnon consults the prophet Calchas to determine the cause of the plague. When
he learns that Chryseis is the cause, he reluctantly gives her up but then demands Briseis from Achilles as
compensation. Furious at this insult, Achilles returns to his tent in the army camp and refuses to fight in the war
any longer. He vengefully yearns to see the Achaeans destroyed and asks his mother, the sea-nymph Thetis, to
enlist the services of Zeus, king of the gods, toward this end. The Trojan and Achaean sides have declared a cease-
fire with each other, but now the Trojans breach the treaty and Zeus comes to their aid.

With Zeus supporting the Trojans and Achilles refusing to fight, the Achaeans suffer great losses. Several days of
fierce conflict ensue, including duels between Paris and Menelaus and between Hector and Ajax. The Achaeans
make no progress; even the heroism of the great Achaean warrior Diomedes proves fruitless. The Trojans push the
Achaeans back, forcing them to take refuge behind the ramparts that protect their ships. The Achaeans begin to
nurture some hope for the future when a nighttime reconnaissance mission by Diomedes and Odysseus yields
information about the Trojans’ plans, but the next day brings disaster. Several Achaean commanders become
wounded, and the Trojans break through the Achaean ramparts. They advance all the way up to the boundary of
the Achaean camp and set fire to one of the ships. Defeat seems imminent, because without the ships, the army
will be stranded at Troy and almost certainly destroyed.
 Concerned for his comrades but still too proud to help them himself, Achilles agrees to a plan proposed
by Nestor that will allow his beloved friend Patroclus to take his place in battle, wearing his armor.
Patroclus is a fine warrior, and his presence on the battlefield helps the Achaeans push the Trojans away
from the ships and back to the city walls. But the counterattack soon falters. Apollo knocks Patroclus’s
armor to the ground, and Hector slays him. Fighting then breaks out as both sides try to lay claim to the
body and armor. Hector ends up with the armor, but the Achaeans, thanks to a courageous effort by
Menelaus and others, manage to bring the body back to their camp. When Achilles discovers that Hector
has killed Patroclus, he fills with such grief and rage that he agrees to reconcile with Agamemnon and
rejoin the battle. Thetis goes to Mount Olympus and persuades the god Hephaestus to forge Achilles a
new suit of armor, which she presents to him the next morning. Achilles then rides out to battle at the
head of the Achaean army.

 Meanwhile, Hector, not expecting Achilles to rejoin the battle, has ordered his men to camp outside the
walls of Troy. But when the Trojan army glimpses Achilles, it flees in terror back behind the city walls.
Achilles cuts down every Trojan he sees. Strengthened by his rage, he even fights the god of the river
Xanthus, who is angered that Achilles has caused so many corpses to fall into his streams. Finally,
Achilles confronts Hector outside the walls of Troy. Ashamed at the poor advice that he gave his
comrades, Hector refuses to flee inside the city with them. Achilles chases him around the city’s
periphery three times, but the goddess Athena finally tricks Hector into turning around and fighting
Achilles. In a dramatic duel, Achilles kills Hector. He then lashes the body to the back of his chariot and
drags it across the battlefield to the Achaean camp. Upon Achilles’ arrival, the triumphant Achaeans
celebrate Patroclus’s funeral with a long series of athletic games in his honor. Each day for the next nine
days, Achilles drags Hector’s body in circles around Patroclus’s funeral bier.

 At last, the gods agree that Hector deserves a proper burial. Zeus sends the god Hermes to escort King
Priam, Hector’s father and the ruler of Troy, into the Achaean camp. Priam tearfully pleads with Achilles
to take pity on a father bereft of his son and return Hector’s body. He invokes the memory of Achilles’
own father, Peleus. Deeply moved, Achilles finally relents and returns Hector’s corpse to the Trojans.
Both sides agree to a temporary truce, and Hector receives a hero’s funeral.
 Ode to Aphrodite
Iridescent-throned Aphrodite, deathless
What would ease the pain of my frantic mind, and
Child of Zeus, wile-weaver, I now implore you,
Why had I called you
Don't--I beg you, Lady--with pains and torments To my side: "And whom should Persuasion summon
Crush down my spirit, Here, to soothe the sting of your passion this time?

But before if ever you've heard my pleadings Who is now abusing you, Sappho? Who is
Treating you cruelly?
Then return, as once when you left your father's
Now she runs away, but she'll soon pursue you;
Golden house; you yoked to your shining car your
Gifts she now rejects--soon enough she'll give them;
Wing-whirring sparrows; Now she doesn't love you, but soon her heart will

Skimming down the paths of the sky's bright ether Burn, though unwilling."
Come to me once more, and abate my torment;
On they brought you over the earth's black bosom,
Take the bitter care from my mind, and give me
Swiftly--then you stood with a sudden brilliance,
All I long for; Lady, in all my battles
Goddess, before me; Fight as my comrade.

Deathless face alight with your smile, you asked me

What I suffered, who was my cause of anguish,

Argonautica
Pelias, king of Iolcus in Thessaly, has been warned in a prophesy that a man with only
one sandal will one day bring about his downfall. When news comes that Jason has
recently lost a sandal, Pelias decides to send him on an apparently impossible and
suicidal task: to bring back the mythical Golden Fleece from Colchis, on the distant and
dangerous shores of the Black Sea, a land ruled over by the warlike King Aetes.

Jason, however, recruits a band of heroes to help him in this venture, and makes ready a
ship called the Argo (built by the shipwright Argus, according to instruction from the
goddess Athena). Initially, the crew elect Heracles as leader of the quest, but Heracles
insists on deferring to Jason. Although Jason is glad for this vote of confidence, he
remains worried as some of the crew are clearly unconvinced of his worthiness for the
task. But Orpheus’ music calms the crew, and soon the ship itself calls to them to set sail.

The first port of call is Lemnos, ruled over by Queen Hypsipyle. The women of Lemnos
have killed off all their menfolk, and are keen that the crew of the Argo should stay with
them. Hypsipyle instantly falls in love with Jason, and Jason soon moves into her palace,
along with most of his fellow questers. Only Heracles remains unmoved, and is able to
make Jason and the other Argonauts see sense and continue the journey.
Next, while travelling through the Hellespont, the Argo encounters a region inhabited
by hostile six-handed savages and by the much more civilized Doliones people.
However, the Argonauts and the Doliones end up fighting each other by accident, and
Jason (also accidentally) kills their king. After some magnificent funeral rites, the two
factions are reconciled, but the Argo is delayed by adverse winds until the seer
Mopsus realizes that it is necessary to establish a cult to the mother of the gods (Rhea
or Cybele) among the Doliones.

At the next landfall, at the river Cius, Heracles and his friend Polyphemus goes off in
search of Heracles’ handsome young squire Hylas, who has been abducted by a water
nymph. The ship leaves without the three heroes, but the sea divinity Glaucus assures
them that this is all part of the divine plan.

As Book 2 begins, the Argo reaches the land of King Amycus of the Bebrycians, who
challenges any Argonaut champion to a boxing match. Anger by this disrespect,
Polydeukes accepts the challenge, and beats the hulking Amycus by guile and superior
skill. The Argo departs amid further threats from the warlike Bebrycians.

Next, they encounter Phineas, cursed by Zeus with extreme old age, blindness and
constant visits from the Harpies for giving away divine secrets due to his gift of
prophesy. The Argonauts Zetes and Calais, sons of the north wind, chase away the
Harpies, and the grateful blind old man tell the Argonauts how to get to Colchis and,
in particular, how to avoid the Clashing Rocks en route.
Avoiding this natural menace, the Argo arrives in the Black Sea, where the questers
build an altar to Apollo, who they see flying overhead on his way to the
Hyperboreans. Passing the river Acheron (one of the entrances to Hades), they are
warmly welcomed by Lycus, king of the Mariandynians. The prophet Idmon and the
pilot Tiphys both die unrelated deaths here, and, after suitable funeral rites, the
Argonauts continue their quest.

After pouring libations for the ghost of Sthenelus, and taking on board three more
of Heracles’ old acquaintances from his campaign against the Amazons, the
Argonauts carefully pass the river Thermodon, the Amazons’ main harbour. After
fighting off the birds that defend an island devoted to the war-god Ares, the
Argonauts welcome into their number four sons of the exiled Greek hero Phrixus
(and grandsons of Aetes, king of Colchis). Finally, approaching Colchis, they
witness Zeus’ huge eagle flying to the Caucasus mountains, where it feeds daily on
the liver of Prometheus.

In Book 3, the Argo is hidden in a backwater of the river Phasis, the main river of
Colchis, while Athena and Hera discuss how best to help the quest. They enlist the
help of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and her son Eros, in making Medea, daughter of
the king of Colchis, fall in love with Jason.
Jason, along with King Aetes’ grandsons, make an initial attempt to gain the
Golden Fleece by persuasion rather than arms, but Aetes is unimpressed, and sets
Jason another apparently impossible task first: he must plough the Plain of Ares
with fire-breathing oxen, then sow four acres of the plain with dragon's teeth, and
finally cut down the crop of armed men that will spring up before they can cut
him down.

Medea, affected by Eros’ arrow of love, looks for a way to help Jason with this
task. She conspires with her sister Chalciope (mother to the four young men of
Colchis now in Jason’s band of warriors), and eventually comes up with a plan to
help Jason by means of her drugs and spells. Medea secretly meets with Jason
outside the temple of Hecate, where she is a priestess, and it becomes clear that
Medea’s love for Jason is requited. In return for her help, Jason promises to
marry her and make her famous throughout Greece.

On the day set for the trial of strength, Jason, strengthened by Medea’s drugs and
spells, succeeds in carrying out King Aetes’ apparently impossible task. Stung by
this unexpected setback to his plans, Aetes plots to cheat Jason out of his prize.

Book 4 begins with Medea planning to flee Colchis, now that her father is aware
of her treasonous actions. Doors open for her by magic, and she joins the
Argonauts at their camp. She puts to sleep the serpent that guards the Golden
Fleece, so that Jason can take it and escape back to the Argo.
The Argo flees Colchis, hotly pursued by two fleets of ships. One fleet, led
by Medea’s brother Apsyrtus (or Absyrtus), follows the Argo up the river
Ister to the Sea of Cronus, where Apsyrtus finally corners the Argonauts. A
deal is struck whereby Jason can keep the Golden Fleece, which he won
fairly after all, but Medea’s fate must be decided by a mediator chose from
neighbouring kings. Fearing that she will never get away, Medea lures
Apsyrtus into a trap where Jason kills him and then dismembers him to
avoid retribution from the Erinyes (Fates). Without their leader, the
Colchian fleet is easily overcome, and they choose to flee themselves
rather than face Aetes’ wrath.

Zeus, though, furious at the insupportable murder, condemns the

Argonauts to wander far out of their way on their return journey. They are
blown all the way back to the river Eridanus, and thence to the Sardinian
Sea and the realm of the witch, Circe. Circe, however, absolves Jason and
Medea of any blood-guilt, and Hera also prevails on the sea nymph Thetis
to help the group. With the help of the sea nymphs, the Argo is able to
safely pass the Sirens (all except Butes, that is), and also the Wandering
Rocks, eventually arriving the island of Drepane, off the western coast of
Greece.
There, however, they encounter the other Colchian fleet, which is still pursuirng
them. Alcinous, the king of Drepane, agrees to mediate between the two forces,
although secretly planning to give Medea up to the Colchians unless she can
prove that she is properly married to Jason. Alcinous’ wife, Queen Arete, warns
the lovers of this plan, and Jason and Medea are secretly wed in a sacred cave on
the island, so that the Colchians are finally forced to give up their claims on
Medea, and they decide to settle locally rather than risk returning to Colchis.

The Argo, though, is blown off course once again, towards an interminable
sandbank off the coast of Libya called the Syrtes. Seeing no way out, the
Argonauts split up and wait to die. But they are visited by three nymphs, who act
as the guardians of Libya, and who explain what the questers need to do in order
to survive: they must carry the Argo across the deserts of Libya. After twelve
days of this torment, they arrive at Lake Triton and the Garden of the Hesperides.
They are astonished to hear that Heracles was there just the previous day, and that
they have missed him again.

The Argonauts lose two more of their number - the seer Mopsus dies from a
snake bite, and Canthus from a wound - and are begining to despair again, until
Triton takes pity on them and reveals a route from the lake to the open sea. Triton
entrusts Euphemus with a magical clod of earth that will one day become the
island of Thera, the stepping stone that will later allow Greek colonists to settle
Libya.
The tale ends with the Argonauts’ visit to the island of
Anaphe, where they institute a cult in honour of Apollo, and
finally to Aegina (close to Jason’s ancestral home), where
they establish a sporting festival competition.
 “Don't Just”

Don't just learn, experience.

Don't just read, absorb.
Don't just change, transform.
Don't just relate, advocate.
Don't just promise, prove.
Don't just criticize, encourage.
Thanks !!! Don't just think, ponder.
Don't just take, give.
Don't just see, feel.
Don’t just dream, do.
Don't just hear, listen.
Don't just talk, act.
Don't just tell, show.
Don't just exist, live.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in
the Heart