2. Greek literature constitute what was produced from
the Age of Homeric poems(about 1oth century B.C)
to the Christian era.
1. The age of the epic Poetry(to the sixth
century B.C)
2. The age of the lyric poetry(sixth century B.C)
Important writers in this period:
Anacreon
Sappho
Pindar
3. 3. The Attic Period(470-300 B.C)
TRAGEDY
Writers of Tragedy
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
COMEDY
WRITERS
Aristophanes
New Comedy was reflected in the works of
Menander (342-291)
6. exceptional people.
They are known in
history as the ‚noble
Greeks. Because of
their attainments in
literature, sculpture,
architecture, and
philosophy, the term
‘the glory that was
7. Greek Art and Literature
The Greeks produced a civilization that in many
ways has never been surpassed in the world. Greek art
is well-known throughout the world. There are four
majors forms of Greek art:
Architecture
Panting
Sculpture
Pottery
8. Greek history goes back to the Bronze
Age, between 300 and 1200 B.C. in
the Golden Age or Classical Age of
ancient Greece, many of the Greek
masterpieces were constructed.
9. 3 PERIODS OF ANCIENT GREECE
1. Pre-Homeric age
2. Homeric age,
3. Period of Decline,
10. Greek literature has the following
qualities
Permanence and Universality
Essentially Full of Artistry
Originality
Diversity of talent
Intellectual quality
12. The Iliad
The Iliad begins in the tenth year of the war,
there was a prophecy that in that year Troy
would fall and be destroyed by the victorious
Greeks. The story opens with a violent quarrel
between Agamemnon, the commander in the
chief of the Greek army, and Achilles, their
greatest and bravest warrior. Brassies, a
concubine of Achilles, is unjustly taken by
Agamemnon and as result Achilles makes a
sacred vow that he will no longer fight.
13. The Odyssey
The subject matter of the Odyssey is
the return of Odysseus from the Trojan
War. Because of the anger of the sea God
Poseidon, he is made to wander in lands
beyond the range of human knowledge.
He finds Ithaca, his native land, invaded
by insolent suitors who seek to kill his
young son, Telemachus, and marry his
wife, Penelope.
14. (Aglaia) The goddess of beauty and
adornment. She was one of the three Charites
and the wife of the god Hephaestus.
One of the ruling twelve great
Olympians. She was the goddess of love,
beauty and procreation. Alongside Zeus and
Hera, she was also the leader of the Theoi
Gamelioi or gods of marriage.
(Apollon) One of the twelve great
Olympian gods. He was the god of music,
prophecy and healing, and the leader of both
the Theoi Mousikoi (gods of music) and Theoi
Mantikoi (gods of prophecy).
15. The great Olympian god of war and
conflict. He was the leader of the Theoi
Polemikoi or gods of war.
The wife of the god Dionysos. She
was granted a seat beside her husband
amongst the gods of heavens.
One of the twelve ruling Olympians,
Artemis was the goddess of hunting, wild
animals, childbirth and children. She was also
a death-dealing goddess who brought sudden
death to women with her arrows. Alongside
her brother Apollo she was a leader of the
Theoi Mousikoi or gods of music, presiding
over maiden song and dance.
16. The god of medicine and healing. He was
originally a mortal man who was destroyed by Zeus for
the crime of restoring the dead to life. Afterwards he was
welcomed into Olympus as a god.
One of the twelve great Olympians, Athena
was the goddess of war, fortifications and the defense of
towns, and of good counsel and heroic endeavor. She
was also a patron goddess of craftsmen, presiding over
the arts of weaving, pottery, carpentry and the
manufacture of oil.
The god of strength and power. He was one of
four winged Daemones who stood attendant by the
throne of Zeus.
(Deimos) The god of fear. He was a son of Ares
who accompanied his father on the battlefield.
17. One of the twelve great Olympian gods,
Demeter was the goddess of agriculture : from the
ploughing of the earth, to the milling of grain for flour.
The goddess of justice, who reported the
misdemeanors of man to her father Zeus. She was one of
the three Horae, goddesses of the seasons and heavenly
order.
The Titaness mother of the goddess Aphrodite.
She was a prophetic goddess, associated with the great
oracle of Zeus at Dodona.
(Dionysos) One of the twelve great
Olympian gods. He was the god of wine, viticulture, and
wild vegetation.
18. One of the nine Muses. She presided
over lyric poetry.
The Queen of the gods, and wife of Zeus.
Hera was the goddess of women, and the leader
of the Theoi Gamelioi or gods of marriage. She
was also a goddess of the sky and stars.
The greatest of the Greek heroes.
Upon his death he was welcomed into Olympus,
becoming the gatekeeper of heaven, and the god
of strength and heroic endeavor and the averter of
evil.
One of the twelve great Olympian
gods. He was the herald of Zeus, and thegod of
herds and flocks, the country arts, travel, trade,
merchants, and thievery.
19. The goddess of the hearth. With Zeus
she was the leader of the gods of house and
home, who also presided over the feast and
the altar flame. Like Artemis and Athena she
was a maiden goddess.
The goddess of good health, one of
the many daughters of Asclepius.
(Leukippides) The goddess
wives of the Dioscuri twins. They were
originally mortal princesses who were carried
up to heaven by the gods.
(Phobos) The god of panic. He was
one of the Theoi Polemikoi (gods of war), a
minion of his father Ares.
20. The King of the sea and one of the twelve
ruling gods of Olympus. He was also the lord of rivers,
lakes and other sources of fresh-water, and the god of
horses and chariots. Unlike the other Olympian gods he
had his residence in the sea rather than heaven,
although he still attended all the councils and feasts of
the heavenly gods.
The Titan goddess of divine law and order,
custom and tradition. She was also a prophetic
goddess, the leader of the assembly, and the personal
councilor of Zeus.
The mother of the god Dionysus. Thyone is
the divine name of Semele, who was brought to
Olympus by her son subsequent to her death.
The great King of the Gods, ruler of Olympos and
the Heavens, and leader of the Twelve. He was the god
of the sky, weather, kings, fate, law and order.
21. The drama was the crowning glory
of the Athenian Age, which has been
called by different terms. It has been
called the Age of Pericles because
Pericles was the ruling power in Athens
at the time. It has also been called the
Athenian Age because Athens
became the white hot literacy center
of Greece, and it has been called the
Golden Age because the drama
flourished during this period. There
were three great tragic writers:
