Literature of Greece

It has influenced not only its Roman neighbors to the west but also countless
generations across the European continent.

Greek Writers
Responsible for the introduction of such genres as poetry, tragedy, comedy,
and western philosophy to the world.
They are not only born on the soil of their native Greece but also in Asia
Minor (Iona), the islands of the Aegean, Sicily, and Southern Italy.
 Greeks
The Greeks were a passionate people, and this zeal can be seen in their
literature.
They had a rich history of both war and peace, leaving an indelible imprint
on the culture and people.

Edith Hamilton
An author and historian who believed that the spirit of life abounds
throughout Greek history.
 Greek Literature
Is divided into three distinct periods: Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic.

Archaic
 The literature ot Archaic Era mostly centered on myth; part history and part
folklore.
 Homer’s epics of the Iliad and the Odyssey and Hesiod’s Theogony are
significant examples of the period.
 Literary Greece begins with Homer.
 Since writing had not yet arrived in Greece, much of what was created in this
period was communicated orally, only to be put in written form years later.
Classical Era
 Centered on the tragedies of such writers as Sophocles and his Oedipus Rex,
Euripides’s Hippolytus, and the comedies of Aristophanes.

Hellenistic Era
 Lastly, the final period, the Hellenistic era, saw Greek poetry, prose, and
culture expand across the Mediterranean influencing such Roman writers as
Horace, Ovid, and Virgil.
 Unfortunately, with only few exceptions, much of what was created during the
Archaic and Classical period remains only in fragments.
 Greek Mythology
 Used as a means to explain the environment in which humankind lived, the
natural phenomena they witnessed and the passing of time through the days,
months and seasons.
 Myths were also intricately connected to religion in the Greek world and
explained the origin and lives of the gods, where humanity had come from
and where it was going after death, and gave advice on the best way to lead a
happy life.
 Finally, myths were used to re-tell historical events so that people could
maintain with their ancestors, the wars they fought, and the places they
explored.
 As you read the selection, notice the different gods and
goddesses and their role in “The Creation”. Observe the
characters and take note of their traits.

 The characters are the persons we meet in the story.

 A characterization is a description of the characters.
 The protagonist is the main character, ofthen the hero of the story.
 The antagonist is the villain or enemy in the story.
 Hesiod

 A Greek poet of the eight century BC.

 Hesiod lived in 700 B.C., probably after Homer lived. Unlike Homer, Hesiod
had a difficult and very poor life. He was from Beocia (Western Greece). His
father left him a small inheritance, but he had to share it with his brother.
Hesiod was engaged in agriculture, which was a rough and demanding way to
live. Perhaps for this reason, his works always reflect pessimism and lament
for the harshness of life.
 Summary of
“The Creation”
by Hesiod
 The telling of the creation of existence and the rise of
the gods is a tale that has survived through the writings of
Hesiod, in his epic poem The Theogony.

For the ancient Greeks, this was their answer to the

most fundamental question of existence. And as with all
Greek mythology, the story of the creation of the world is
shrouded in fantasy and wonder.
 It was said that in the beginning of time. Chaos existed
without form or purpose, and from chaos there came Gaia
who was the earth and who created all the land.

She was the primodal being of the earth and there comes
the Father Heaven called Uranus. They became husband
and wife and together bear many children.

The earth, Gaia, gave birth first to the mighty Titans.

These creatures were immortal and possessed great
strength and power.
As Hesiod describes it:
“she lay with Heaven and bare deep-swirling Oceanus,
Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and
Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe
and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos the wily,
youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated
his lusty sire.”
 Gaia then gave birth to the Cyclops’s, who were
monstrous creatures with one bulging eye in the center of
their foreheads. Then Gaia birthed the hideous
Hecatonchires, who were creatures with broad shoulders,
fifty heads, and one hundred arms. Uranus saw the
Cyclops’s and the Hecatonchires’s as vile creatures. With
the birth of each, he would imprison them away beneath
the earth. The imprisonment of her children saddened
Gaia and she devised a plan to seek vengeance.
 Gaia gathered her children, the mighty Titans, and told
them of her plan to overthrow her husband, Uranus.

In Hesiod’s own words, Gaia declares:

‘My children, gotten of a sinful father, if you will obey
me, we should punish the vile outrage of your father; for
he first thought of doing shameful things.’
 However the Titans were very afraid of their father; at
first, none would volunteer to overthrow the ruler of the
heavens.

Then it was Cronus, the youngest of the Titans who

hated his father Uranus, who stepped forward to do the
deed. Gaia gave to the youngest titan a sickle and told him
to lie in wait for his unsuspecting father.
 While Cronus hid away from his father, Uranus was
crossing the earth bringing the night. Uranus then
appeared before Gaia, planning to lay with her, and it was
then that Cronus struck. The young titan approached from
behind and used the sickle to cut off the genitals of his
father. He then flung them across the earth before they
landed in the sea.
 The blood from the detached member of Uranus mixed
with the foam of the ocean. From the mist and the foam
rose a beautiful figure. She was a goddess unmatched in
beauty and grace, she stepped upon the land and the
flowers and vegetation grew around her. She was
Aphrodite, one of the original Olympians.
 It was said that as Uranus lay bleeding upon the earth
as Cronus stood over him. The blood spilled from the now
deposed ruler of heaven and mixed with the earth, Gaia.
Instantly several creatures were born from Gaia as her
husband lay dying.
From this blood sprang the Giants, the Erinyes (the
avenging Furies), the Meliae (the ash-tree nymphs). These
creatures sprang from the blood of Uranus and then began
to wander the earth.
 Cronus was now the king of heaven. He had deposed
his father and taken his place as ruler of the universe.
However with the dying breath of Uranus, he prophesied a
terrible fate for his traitorous son. Uranus predicted that
one of Cronus’s children would overthrow him one day,
just as he had overthrown his father. The prophecy would
hang heavy on the head of the Titan.
 Fun Facts about
“The Creation” by Hesiod
 It was written in the 8th or 7th century BC, and uses the same
dialect of Ancient Greek as Homer. This dialect is known as Epic
dialect today. With the exception of the Illiad and the Odyssey, the
Theogony is the oldest known source of Greek mythology.

The poem is a synthesis of different Greek stories and traditions. It

is a story that tells how the gods came to be and how they
established permanent control over the cosmos. It is the first Greek
mythical cosmogony. In the beginning, the state of the universe is
chaos - a dark indefinite void. Everything else appeared from
divine chaos.
 "Theogony" means "birth of the gods." This thousand-line
poem comes from the end of the 8th century bce. Most generally it
is a hymn to Zeus, king of gods and men, but it encompasses the
origin of the world (cosmogony) and of the other gods.

Hesiod was the first Greek poet who tried to put order into the
confusing Greek mythology and, thanks to him, today we know
Greek beliefs about the origin of the world and the gods.
 How Hesiod wrote the “The Creation”.

Hesiod says that one day he was tending his sheep. Then he
saw the Muses, the goddesses of artistic insight. They told him
that he must write, even if he was not an intellectual but only a
rustic shepherd. They gave him an olive wood stick and the artistic
inspiration. From that moment, Hesiod began to write his
Theogony.