This document provides an overview of ancient Greek literature, focusing on Homer and his epic poems the Iliad and Odyssey. It notes that Homer is considered the author of these two central works of ancient Greek literature, which recount stories from the Trojan War. The Iliad focuses on the quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, while the Odyssey follows the journey of Odysseus returning home after the fall of Troy. It also provides some brief background on the Greek language and notes the major genres of ancient Greek literature.

8. Greek
Literature
• Are epic heroes really heroic?
• How are tragic heroes “heroic”?
• What qualities make someone a
hero?
• Are these “heroic” qualities
universal and timeless?
• How can past events affect what
may happen at present and in the
future?

9. “the glory that was Greece and
the grandeur that was Rome”

10. Greece
-Latin “Graecia” which in turn comes
from the Greek word “Graikoi”,the
original name of the people living in
Dodona.

13. GREEK ANCIENT LITERATURE
This refers to literature written in
Ancient Greek from the oldest surviving
written works in the Greek language.
HOMER—”Iliad” and “Odyssey”
is the name ascribed by the
ancient Greeks to the legendary author
of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic
poems which are the central works
of ancient Greek literature.

14. Roman bust of Homer from the second century AD, portrayed
with traditional iconography, based on a Greek original dating
to the Hellenistic Period

15. The Iliad is set during the Trojan
War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy
by a coalition of Greek kingdoms. It
focuses on a quarrel between
King Agamemnon and the
warrior Achilles lasting a few weeks during
the last year of the war.

16. The Odyssey focuses on the journey home
of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after the fall of
Troy.

17. • 30% of the words in an ordinary
dictionary comes from the Greek
language.
• Ancient Greeks were the first to use
vowels.
• Our alphabet came from the Greek
language, “alpha” and “beta”.

18. • Ancient Greek literature had four
major writings: epic traditions, lyric
poetry, comedy, and tragedy.