Midterm Period

(Week 11)

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

Lesson 20: World Literature: Greece and Greek Literature

Objective: Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts and doing an
adaptation of these require from the learner the ability to:

1. Identify representative texts and authors from Asia, North America,

Europe, Latin America and Africa

2. Explain the texts in terms of literary elements, genres, and traditions

3. Situate the texts in the context of the region, nation and the world.

4. Appreciate the cultural and aesthetic diversity of the world

Lesson Content:

GREECE
BRIEF PROFILE OF THE COUNTRY:

➢ GREECE is a country in Southern Europe touching the vast waters of the

Mediterranean Sea.
➢ Official Name: Hellenic Republic
➢ Capital: Athens.
➢ National Anthem: “Hymn to Liberty”
➢ Government: Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Republic
➢ 2017 Population: 11.7 million
➢ Demographics/Ethnolinguistic Peoples: Greek, Slavic Peoples
(Macedonians, Bulgarians), Albanians, Aromanians, Turkish.
➢ Religion: Orthodox Christian, Non-religious, Roman Catholicism, Islam
➢ Has a pre-history which dates back to the early settlements of the ethnic tribe,
Balkans, about 270,000 BC.
➢ Old name of Greece: Hellens, Hellas, Graecia

MAP AND FLAG:

- One of Greek’s national symbol, based on

nine equal horizontal stripes of blue. alternating
with stripes of white.

- Represents the nine syllables of the greek

phrase “Freedom or Death”

- Also represents the waves of the seas.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF GREECE TO THE WORLD

➢ Ancient Greek was considered the earliest cradle of Western civilizations

➢ The birthplace of the following:
o Democracy
o Western philosophy (Plato, Socrates, Aristotle)
o Olympic games
o Greek mythology and Western literature
o Historiography and political science
o Majors scientific and mathematical principles
o Western architecture (“The Parthenon”, column temples: doric, ionic
and gothic designs)
➢ Food: Salad
➢ Greek Mythology (Greece’s National Epics)
o Homer - the blind bard author of Iliad and Odyssey
o Iliad and Odyssey

Homer (in the middle), barding the story of Iliad and Odyssey behind a Parthenon-like temple.

HOMER

➢ A Greek bard (a poet that tells stories by way of chanting/singing)

➢ Is the author credited to the stories of Iliad and Odyssey
➢ The real existence and identity of Homer is still being disputed by Historians,
Anthropologists and Literary experts
GREECE’S NATIONAL EPICS: THE ILIAD AND THE ODYSSEY

The Iliad (The Song of Ilium)

A story of armed human conflict in Ancient Greece set during the the 10-year
siege of the city of Troy (Trojan War)

Setting: Ancient Greek empire territories in the Mediterranean, Aegean

Sea, the City of Troy in Asia Minor (Turkey)

Characters:

- Achilles (the demi-god warrior invited by King Menelaus to conquer the

city of Troy, leader of the Myrmidons)
- Helen (the woman said to be the cause of the Trojan war, Queen
of Sparta, wife of King Menelaus, son of Zeus and Leda)
- King Menalaus (King of Sparta, Wife of Helen, Brother of King
Agamemnon)
- Agamemnon (brother of King Menelaus)
- Prince Hector (greatest warrior of Troy, brother of Paris, son of King
Priam, Prince of Troy)
- Prince Paris (younger brother of Hector, son of King Priam, abductor and
the illegal lover of Helen)
- King Odysseus (King of Ithaca, Achilles’s friend)

Events of the story:

➢ The episode (The Judgment of Paris) begins during the banquet celebration
of the wedding of Achilles’s parents, sponsored by Zeus. The Goddess of
Strife, Eris, was uninvited to the event in fears that she might cause trouble.
She was not happy about it and she thought causing a bit of a stir to the
occasion. With it, she threw a Golden Apple and on it bears the message, “To
the fairest one.” Witnessing this, the three very competitive Goddesses, Hera,
Athena and Aphrodite, claimed the apple and asked Zeus to give it to he
thinks deserve it most. Zeus played it wisely and gave the task of choosing to
the young Paris, the younger son of the King of Troy, Priam. While Paris was
making his decision, the Goddesses tried to bribe him with different
 pleasurable things to offer. The Goddesses offered him, wisdom, empires and
the most beautiful woman in the world. Eventually he went for Aphrodite’s
offer, to have the most beautiful woman in the world that was Helen.

➢ Paris seduced Helen, and the woman easily fell for him. She willingly flees
with her abductor and upon knowing this, King Menelaus gathered the
leaders of all the empires in Greece to retrieve Helen and bring her back
home. They launched several hundred ships headed for the coast of Troy and
the world will later know the 10-year battle of Troy, known more popularly as
the Trojan War.

The Odyssey

Tells the story of King Odysseus’s journey back home after the fall of Troy.

Setting: Ancient Greek empire territories in the Mediterranean, Aegean

Sea, the City of Troy in Asia Minor (Turkey)
Characters:

- King Odysseus (King of Ithaca)

- Queen Penelope (the ever faithful and loyal wife of King
Odysseus)
- Telemachus (son of Odysseus and Penelope, he was 20 when
- Odysseus returned home and saw him for the very first time)
- Athena (Goddess of Wisdom, the main God-ally of Odysseus)
- Poseidon (God of the Sea, held a grudge against Odysseus for not
including him in his thanks for their victory on Troy)
- The 108 Suitors
- Calypso (the sea nymph that held Odysseus hostage in her island
for 7 years.)

Events of the story:

➢ The story starts with Penelope giving birth to her son with Odysseus,
Telemachus.
➢ Odysseus sets out to aid King Menelaus in their battle against the Trojan.
➢ 10 years after the Trojan War, Odysseus tried to do a journey back home but
was held captive by Calypso, the sea nymph that forced Odysseus to be his
lover, until Athena helped her in his escape from her island.
➢ With a number of myriad barriers along his journey back home, Odysseus
finally reaches his island-kingdom, Ithaca and was surprised by the presence
of over 100 men trying to win Penelope’s heart by demonizing her that
Odysseus will not be coming back anymore. Odysseus and his son, killed all
the suitors and finally was able to restore the peace back to his kingdom.