Greek Background for the Iliad and the Odyssey

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Greek Background for the Iliad and the Odyssey

• 3000 700 B.C.

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Why study Greek literature?

• Greeks have made massive contributions in a
  variety areas art, philosophy, literature,
  drama, architecture, politics, science, and music
• Main Reason To understand human nature/humankind
  in Western Civilization

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Heroic Age

• Around 1200 B.C. a conflict arose in Troy
• 10 year battle took place between the Achaeans
  and the Trojans
• This is the main subject of the Iliad and is
  also large part of the plot in the Odyssey
• These two works are attributed to the blind poet
  Homer and were written c. 800 B.C.
• Heroic Age 1100-700 B.C.
• During this time countless heroic tales were
  created and told

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Heroic Age Continued . . .

• Greeks were extremely concerned with tales of
  heroism (living heroically was the ideal)
• Not only were epics written (Homer), but so were
  many fables/folklore (made up stories passed down
  through oral tradition)
• Many Legends were also created and were involved
  in epics and folklore (Legend they are often
  fiction involving much folklore and stories of
  the gods but they have some basis in fact
• Epic A long poem that tells a story involving
  gods, heroes, and heroic exploits