Peace through ancient Greek literature

1. PEACE

2. PEACE
Peace through Greek art
and literature

3. Goddess of peace in ancient Greek

4. Goddess of the ancient Greeks, Irene( or Peace), was
the personification of a peaceful state of affairs,
daughter of Zeus and Themis , the goddess of justice
and Eunomia’s and Trial’s sister.
The Ancient Greeks were often founding altars to her
at the end of hostilities. We Know many adjectives
which are referred to the goddess such as "Sweet",
"fabulously rich", “Ploutodoteira" etc. The
corresponding view for the Romans was the Pax, the
Latin version. A very famous sculpture of her is that of
Keiphisodotos, Praxiteles’ father, dated in the
beginning of the 4th century B.C. representing Peace
holding in her arms her son, Wealth.

5. The status of the goddess Peace
 The statue of the goddess
Peace holds a scepter in
her right hand and her son,
the Wealth, in her left one.
The small boy has turned
his head high looking with
manifest love his mother.
He holds in one hand
Amalhteia’s horn.
 This statue declares the
abundance of goods, the
calm and the happiness in
people’s life during
peaceful time.

6. Many writers in Greek ancient era,
philosophers and historians, have
expressed their view on peace.

7. Hisiodos,7 B.C., poet
 «Ειρήνη ανά γην κουροτρόφος.»
 «Peace feeds men in the world.»

8. Pindaros,522-443 B.C., poet
 «Η ειρήνη δίδει τροφή στον γεωργό, ακόμα
και όταν αυτός βρίσκεται εν μέσω βράχων, ο
πόλεμος, τουναντίον, φέρει σ' αυτόν
δυστυχία, κι όταν ακόμα βρίσκεται εν μέσω
πεδιάδας.»
 “Peace feeds a farmer even if he lives in
unfriendly lands. On the contrary war brings
him misery, even if he lives in abundant
fields.”

9. Herodotus, 485 - 421/415 B.C., historical
 «Οὐδείς γάρ οὕτως ἀνόητος ἐστιν, ὅστις πόλεμον πρό
εἰρήνης αἱρέεται· ἐν μέν γάρ τῇ οἱ παῖδας
πατέρας θάπτουσιν, ἐν δέ τῷ οἱ πατέρες τά τέκνα.»
 “Nobody is so foolish, preferring war instead of
peace. In peace children bury their parents, while in
war parents bury their children.”

10. Isocrates,436-338B.C.,rhetorician

11. An extract from Isocrates’ speech “About peace”(355B.C.).It refers
to Athenians, who were involved in war with their allies. Isocrates
consulted them to sign peace. So he presented through his speech
the advantages of peace and the drawbacks of war.
«Ἢν δὲ τὴν εἰρήνην
ποιησώμεθα, [...] μετὰ
πολλῆς μὲν ἀσφαλείας τὴν
πόλιν οἰκήσομεν,
ἀπαλλαγέντες πολέμων καὶ
κινδύνων καὶ ταραχῆς, [...]
καθ’ ἑκάστην δὲ τὴν ἡμέραν
πρὸς εὐπορίαν ἐπιδώσομεν,
[...] ἀδεῶς γεωργοῦντες καὶ
τὴν θάλατταν πλέοντες καὶ
ταῖς ἄλλαις ἐργασίαις
ἐπιχειροῦντες αἳ νῦν διὰ τὸν
πόλεμον ἐκλελοίπασιν.»
“ If we make peace,….we
will live in our town
safely having disposed
of risks and riots and
every day we will
become more rich by
cultivating our land and
by crossing the sea and
by employing with other
things which have been
disappeared because of
the war.”

12.  «Δια την των χρημάτων κτήσιν
πάντες οι πόλεμοι γίγνονται»
 “All wars are made for the
acquisition of material goods.”
Platoon, 427-347 B.C., philosopher
 «Δια την των χρημάτων κτήσιν
πάντες οι πόλεμοι γίγνονται»
Platoon, 427-347 B.C., philosopher

13. Peace through ancient
comedy
Aristophanes(448-380B.C.)
All the extant comedies of the
fifth century B.C. belong to one
man,Aristophanes. He was the
greatest comic writer of his day.
By the time Aristophanes began
to write his comedies,
democracy had already begun
to sour for the Athenians. The
people were increasingly
demoralized by the ongoing
conflicts of the Peloponnesian
War. Therefore he wrote
comedies to express his antiwar
messages to his fellow citizens.
Two of them, the most famous
all over the world, are “Peace”
and” “Lysistrata”

14. “Peace”, a comedy
is written by Aristophanes

The plot of this comedy concerns the captivity of Peace by
War. Trygaios, the vine-grower, decides to release Peace
with the aid of God Hermes. Together they release Fruit and
Theory. Irene, although she is disappointed by people for
their attitude towards her, using war to get rich, is
persuaded by Trygaios to give them one more chance. Irene
comes to earth and everyone lives happily.
 Aristophanes through the effort of Trygeos to stop the
devastating effects of war and restore peace in our world
makes it clear how important it is to live in peace. In period
of war misery covers everything. Even the land is
abandoned, people die, they suffer and lose their
possessions. Some, however, get rich from the suffering of
others. Prosperity, happiness, progress and development
can flourish only in peacetime.

15. Extracts from “Peace” of Aristophanes
Τρυγαίος
Πού βρέθηκε τόσο κακό; Και ο Πόλεμος, ένα
βλέμμα που έχει!
Άραγε αυτός είναι που μπροστά του το
βάζουμε στα πόδια,
ο φοβερός, ο σκληροτράχηλος, ο που μας
κάνει να λερώνουμε
τα σκέλια μας;
Πώς τη βρίσκω, πώς μ᾽ αρέσει, πώς
λιγώνομαι».
Τώρα ήρθε η ώρα, άνδρες Έλληνες,
να γλιτώσουμε από μάχες και από έριδες,
την τριπόθητη ειρήνη έξω να σύρουμε,
προτού άλλο γουδοχέρι μπει εμπόδιο.295
Δράμετε, ξωμάχοι, έμποροι, τεχνίτες και
μαραγκοί,
ξένοι, μέτοικοι, νησιώτες, εδώ ελάτε ο κόσμος
όλος,
πάρτε γρήγορα τις τσάπες, τους λοστούς και
τα σκοινιά·
ώρα και για μας να πιούμε για τα καλορίζικα.
Trygaeus
“ And war, what a look he has!
I wonder is he the one who makes us
run away when we see him in front
of us,
So dreadful, so cruel, makes our legs
dirty.”
………………………………………………
……
“Now it’s time Greek men to escape
from battles and quarrels to draw
sweet peace out, before some
other pestle prevents us.
Come, laborers‘, merchants, artisans,
carpenders, strangers, settlers
and islanders, come here all of
you, take picks and levers and
ropes.
It’s time to drink in honour of good
luck.

16. Lysistrata, a comedy of Aristophanes
 Lysistrata, is a comedy by Aristophanes, which it is referred to
the Peloponnesian war. Women with their leader Lysistrata
decided to stop the war and to bring back the peace to their
homeland.
 This effort starts with the initial idea of Lysistrata to propose to
other women of Athens abstinence from their “conjugal duties”
until men decide the end of the war. At first women were
hesitant but they were convinced and swore an oath to never
lay with their husband until a peace treaty was signed. To
ensure the Athenian would honor the treaty, Athenian women
locked themselves in the Parthenon were the Athenian treasury
was stationed. As a result a fight broke out between men and
women. Men were furious about the women’s mutiny but in the
end, unable to deal with the “needs” of a city populated by men
alone they saw the error of their ways and signed a peace
treaty.

17. Peace through ancient drama
 Euripides (485-406B.C.), was a tragic
poet and one of the three Grand Masters of
the Attic drama in ancient Greek theater .
 One of the most famous Euripides’
tragedies is “Helen”.” It was written in 412
B.C and it was presented on the aftermath of
the defeat of the Athenians during the
Sicilian campaign which was a heavy blow to
their military and their economy.
 Through this drama he doomed the war as
the cause of everything bad.

18. Euripides

19. The story of Tragedy “Helen”
Menelaus after the fall of Troy sailed to Egypt where
he met Helen and learned with amazement that "in
Troy" Helen was nothing but an illusion, a shadow
maifested by the goddess Ira to avenge the
Trojans. The real Helen was hidden in Egypt
throughout the entire Trojan campaign. The
devastating war of Troy was based on nothing but a
lie. The king of Egypt Theoclymenus wants to marry
Helen but she manages to escape secretly with
Menelaus. The project is characterized as anti-war
drama, because Euripides demonstrates that the war
of Troy was based on a lie. So why are people
fighting?

20. Beautiful Helen, the cause of the Trojan war.

21. Phrases with anti- war message through
tragedy “Helen”
''Ανέμυαλοι όσοι αποζητούν τη
δόξα με λόγχες και με δυνατά
στον πόλεμο κοντάρια...'‘
“Brainless those who seek glory in
arms and heavy spears of war…”

22. Phrases with anti- war message
through tragedy “Helen”
« …..αν το δίκιο σου ζητάς με το αίμα
η αμάχη δε θα λείψει από τον κόσμο
γι' αυτήν οι Πριαμίδες πήγαν
κάτω στη γης, ενώ μπορούσαν μονάχα
με τα λόγια, Ελένη,
τέλος να δώσουνε στην έχθρα.»
“…..if you ask for your right with blood
the hostility will not miss from the world,
so that the Priamides were buried under their lands,
while with words, Helen, they could cease these
enmities.

23. A contemporary poet, Georgios Seferis, who awarded
with the Nobel prize of literature, inspired this poem
from Euripides’ tragedy “Helen”
ΓΙΑ ΕΝΑ ΠΟΥΚΑΜΙΣΟ ΑΔΕΙΑΝΟ''
Και στην Τροία;
Τίποτε στην Τροία – ένα είδωλο.
Έτσι το θέλαν οι θεοί.
Κι ο Πάρης, μ' έναν ίσκιο πλάγιαζε σαν
να ήταν πλάσμα ατόφιο
κι εμείς σφαζόμασταν για την Ελένη
δέκα χρόνια.
Μεγάλος πόνος είχε πέσει στην
Ελλάδα.
Τόσα κορμιά ριγμένα
στα σαγόνια της θάλασσας στα
σαγόνια της γης
τόσες ψυχές
δοσμένες στις μυλόπετρες, σαν το
σιτάρι.
Κι οι ποταμοί φούσκωναν μες τη
λάσπη το αίμα
για ένα λινό κυμάτισμα για μια νεφέλη
μιας πεταλούδας τίναγμα το πούπουλο
ενός κύκνου
για ένα πουκάμισο αδειανό, για μιαν
Ελένη.
And in Troy?
Nothing in Troy – just an image.
So the gods decided
And Paris, with a shadow creature lay
as if it were real
and we were fighting for Helen for ten
years.
Insufferable pain had fallen in Greece.
So many bodies were thrown
In the jaws of the sea in Earth’s
so many souls
given to millstones, like wheat.
And the rivers were rising in the mud
of blood
for a heaving for a linen cloud
of a butterfly shaking the feather of a
swan
for an empty shirt, for a Helen.

24. Peace in Olympic Games in ancient
period
 The Olympic Truce is the cessation of hostile actions between
Ancient Greek Cities for a period of time during which they
participated in the Ancient Olympic Games. In recent decades
there have been efforts to make this truce a global institution.
The idea of the Olympic Truce is connected to the Olympic
Games in ancient times. From the seventh day before the start
of the Olympic Games until the seventh day after, all wars were
stopped, so that all athletes, released from military obligations,
could travel in order to join in the Games. The International
Olympic Committee has recently proceeded to establish the
International Olympic Truce Foundation which is always in
collaboration with the Greek governments.

25. Olympic games in ancient period

26. Ancient Olympia, a place where
value of peace was born.

27. This work was based on information
which has been gathered by students
from their books such as “Dramatic
poetry, Eyripides’ Helen”, “Ancient
Greek language” and from the internet.