Ancient Greek literature refers to literature
written in the Ancient Greek language from
the earliest texts until the time of the Byzantine
Empire. The earliest surviving works of ancient
Greek literature, dating back to the early
Archaic period, are the two epic poems The
Iliad and The Odyssey, set in the Mycenaean
era. These two epics, along with the Homeric
Hymns and the two poems of Hesiod, Theogony
and Works and Days, comprised the major foundations
of the Greek literary tradition that would
continue into the Classical, Hellenistic,
and Roman periods.
The lyric poets Sappho, Alcaeus, and Pindar
were highly influential during the early development
of the Greek poetic tradition. Aeschylus is
the earliest Greek tragic playwright for whom
any plays have survived complete. Sophocles
is famous for his tragedies about Oedipus,
particularly Oedipus the King and Antigone.
Euripides is known for his plays which often
pushed the boundaries of the tragic genre.
The comedic playwright Aristophanes wrote
in the genre of Old Comedy, while the later
playwright Menander was an early pioneer of
New Comedy. The historians Herodotus of Halicarnassus
and Thucydides, who both lived during the
fifth century BC, wrote accounts of events
that happened shortly before and during their
own lifetimes. The philosopher Plato wrote
dialogues, usually centered around his teacher
Socrates, dealing with various philosophical
subjects, whereas his student Aristotle wrote
numerous treatises, which later became highly
influential.
Important later writers included Apollonius
of Rhodes, who wrote The Argonautica, an epic
poem about the voyage of the Argonauts; Archimedes,
who wrote groundbreaking mathematical treatises;
and Plutarch, who wrote mainly biographies
and essays. The second-century AD writer Lucian
of Samosata was a Hellenized Syrian, who wrote
primarily works of satire. Ancient Greek literature
has had a profound impact on later Greek literature
and also western literature at large. In particular,
many ancient Roman authors drew inspiration
from their Greek predecessors. Ever since
the Renaissance, European authors in general,
including Dante Alighieri, William Shakespeare,
John Milton, and James Joyce, have all drawn
heavily on classical themes and motifs.
== Pre-classical and classical antiquity ==
This period of Greek literature stretches
from Homer until the fourth century BC and
the rise of Alexander the Great. The earliest
known Greek writings are Mycenaean, written
in the Linear B syllabary on clay tablets.
These documents contain prosaic records largely
concerned with trade (lists, inventories,
receipts, etc.); no real literature has been
discovered. Michael Ventris and John Chadwick,
the original decipherers of Linear B, state
that literature almost certainly existed in
Mycenaean Greece, but it was either not written
down or, if it was, it was on parchment or
wooden tablets, which did not survive the
destruction of the Mycenaean palaces in the
twelfth century BC.Greek literature was divided
in well-defined literary genres, each one
having a compulsory formal structure, about
both dialect and metrics. The first division
was between prose and poetry. Within poetry
there were three super-genres: epic, lyric
and drama. The common European terminology
about literary genres is directly derived
from the ancient Greek terminology. Lyric
and drama were further divided into more genres:
lyric in four (elegiac, iambic, monodic lyric
and choral lyric); drama in three (tragedy,
comedy and pastoral drama). Prose literature
can largely be said to begin with Herodotus.
Over time, several genres of prose literature
developed, but the distinctions between them
were frequently blurred.
=== Epic poetry ===
At the beginning of Greek literature stand
the two monumental works of Homer, the Iliad
and the Odyssey. The figure of Homer is shrouded
in mystery. Although the works as they now
stand are credited to him, it is certain that
their roots reach far back before his time
(see Homeric Question). The Iliad is a narrative
of a single episode spanning over the course
of a ten-day-period from near the end of the
ten years of the Trojan War. It centers on
the person of Achilles, who embodied the Greek
heroic ideal.
The Odyssey is an account of the adventures
of Odysseus, one of the warriors at Troy.
After ten years fighting the war, he spends
another ten years sailing back home to his
wife and family. Penelope was considered the
ideal female, Homer depicted her as the ideal
female based on her commitment, modesty, purity,
and respect during her marriage with Odysseus.
During his ten-year voyage, he loses all of
his comrades and ships and makes his way home
to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. Both of these
works were based on ancient legends. The stories
are told in language that is simple, and direct.
The Homeric dialect was an archaic language
based on Ionic dialect mixed with some element
of Aeolic dialect and Attic dialect, the latter
due to the Athenian edition of the 6th century
BC. The epic verse was the hexameter.The other
great poet of the preclassical period was
Hesiod. Unlike Homer, Hesiod refers to himself
in his poetry. Nonetheless, nothing is known
about him from any external source. He was
a native of Boeotia in central Greece, and
is thought to have lived and worked around
700 BC. Hesiod's two extant poems are Works
and Days and Theogony. Works and Days is a
faithful depiction of the poverty-stricken
country life he knew so well, and it sets
forth principles and rules for farmers. Theogony
is a systematic account of creation and of
the gods. It vividly describes the ages of
mankind, beginning with a long-past Golden
Age.The writings of Homer and Hesiod were
held in extremely high regard throughout antiquity
and were viewed by many ancient authors as
the foundational texts behind ancient Greek
religion; Homer told the story of a heroic
past, which Hesiod bracketed with a creation
narrative and an account of the practical
realities of contemporary daily life.
=== Lyric poetry ===
Lyric poetry received its name from the fact
that it was originally sung by individuals
or a chorus accompanied by the instrument
called the lyre. Despite the name, however,
the lyric poetry in this general meaning was
divided in four genres, two of which were
not accompanied by cithara, but by flute.
These two latter genres were elegiac poetry
and iambic poetry. Both were written in the
Ionic dialect. Elegiac poems were written
in elegiac couplets and iambic poems were
written in iambic trimeter. The first of the
lyric poets was probably Archilochus of Paros,
circa 700 BC, the most important iambic poet.
Only fragments remain of his work, as is the
case with most of the poets. The few remnants
suggest that he was an embittered adventurer
who led a very turbulent life.Many lyric poems
were written in the Aeolic Dialect. Lyric
poems often employed highly varied poetic
meters. The most famous of all lyric poets
were the so-called "Nine Lyric Poets." Of
all the lyric poets, Sappho of Lesbos (c.
630-c. 570 BC) was by far the most widely
revered. In antiquity, her poems were regarded
with the same degree of respect as the poems
of Homer. Only one of her poems, "Ode to Aphrodite,"
has survived to the present day in its original,
completed form. In addition to Sappho, her
contemporary Alcaeus of Lesbos was also notable
for monodic lyric poetry. The poetry written
by Alcman was considered beautiful, even though
he wrote exclusively in the Doric dialect,
which was normally considered unpleasant to
hear. The later poet Pindar of Thebes was
renowned for his choral lyric poetry.
=== Drama ===
All surviving works of Greek drama were composed
by playwrights from Athens and are written
exclusively in the Attic dialect. Choral performances
were a common tradition in all Greek city-states.
The Athenians credited a man named Thespis
with having invented drama by introducing
the first actor, whose primary purpose was
to interact with the leader of the chorus.
Later playwrights expanded the number of actors
to three, allowing for greater freedom in
storytelling.In the age that followed the
Greco-Persian Wars, the awakened national
spirit of Athens was expressed in hundreds
of tragedies based on heroic and legendary
themes of the past. The tragic plays grew
out of simple choral songs and dialogues performed
at festivals of the god Dionysus. In the classical
period, performances included three tragedies
and one pastoral drama, depicting four different
episodes of the same myth. Wealthy citizens
were chosen to bear the expense of costuming
and training the chorus as a public and religious
duty. Attendance at the festival performances
was regarded as an act of worship. Performances
were held in the great open-air theater of
Dionysus in Athens. The poets competed for
the prizes offered for the best plays.All
fully surviving Greek tragedies are conventionally
attributed to Aeschylus, Sophocles or Euripides.
The authorship of Prometheus Bound, which
is traditionally attributed to Aeschylus,
and Rhesus, which is traditionally attributed
to Euripides, are still questioned. There
are seven surviving tragedies attributed to
Aeschylus. Three of these plays, Agamemnon,
The Libation-Bearers, and The Eumenides, form
a trilogy known as The Oresteia. One of these
plays, Prometheus Bound, however, may actually
be the work of Aeschylus's son Euphorion.Seven
works of Sophocles have survived, the most
acclaimed of which are the three Theban plays,
which center around the story of Oedipus and
his offspring. The Theban Trilogy consists
of Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and
Antigone. Although the plays are often called
a "trilogy," they were actually written many
years apart. Antigone, the last of the three
plays sequentially, was actually first to
be written, having been composed in 441 BC,
towards the beginning of Sophocles's career.
Oedipus the King, the most famous of the three,
was written around 429 BC at the midpoint
of Sophocles's career. Oedipus at Colonus,
the second of the three plays chronologically,
was actually Sophocles's last play and was
performed in 401 BC, after Sophocles's death.There
are nineteen surviving plays attributed to
Euripides. The most well-known of these plays
are Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae. Rhesus
is sometimes thought to have been written
by Euripides' son, or to have been a posthumous
reproduction of a play by Euripides. Euripides
pushed the limits of the tragic genre and
many of the elements in his plays were more
typical of comedy than tragedy. His play Alcestis,
for instance, has often been categorized as
a "problem play" or perhaps even as a work
of tragicomedy rather than a true tragedy
due to its comedic elements and the fact that
it has a happy ending.
Like tragedy, comedy arose from a ritual in
honor of Dionysus, but in this case the plays
were full of frank obscenity, abuse, and insult.
At Athens, the comedies became an official
part of the festival celebration in 486 BC,
and prizes were offered for the best productions.
As with the tragedians, few works still remain
of the great comedic writers. The only complete
surviving works of classical comedy are eleven
plays written by the playwright Aristophanes.
These are a treasure trove of comic presentation.
He poked fun at everyone and every institution.
In The Birds, he ridicules Athenian democracy.
In The Clouds, he attacks the philosopher
Socrates. In Lysistrata, he denounces war.
Aristophanes has been praised highly for his
dramatic skill and artistry. John Lemprière's
Bibliotheca Classica describes him as, quite
simply, "the greatest comic dramatist in world
literature: by his side Molière seems dull
and Shakespeare clownish." Of all Aristophanes's
plays, however, the one that has received
the most lasting recognition is The Frogs,
which simultaneously satirizes and immortalizes
the two giants of Athenian tragedy: Aeschylus
and Euripides. When it was performed for the
first time at the Lenaia Festival in 405 BC,
just one year after the death of Euripides,
the Athenians awarded it first prize. It was
the only Greek play that was ever given an
encore performance, which took place two months
later at the City Dionysia. Even today, The
Frogs still appeals to modern audiences. A
commercially successful modern musical adaptation
of it was performed on Broadway in 2004.The
third dramatic genre was the satyr play. Although
the genre was popular, only one complete example
of a satyr play has survived: Cyclops by Euripides.
Large portions of a second satyr play, Ichneutae
by Sophocles, have been recovered from the
site of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt among the Oxyrhynchus
Papyri.
=== Historiography ===
Two notable historians who lived during the
Classical Era were Herodotus of Halicarnassus
and Thucydides. Herodotus is commonly called
"The Father of History." His book The Histories
is among the oldest works of prose literature
in existence. Thucydides's book History of
the Peloponnesian War greatly influenced later
writers and historians, including the author
of the book of Acts of the Apostles and the
Byzantine Era historian Procopius of Caesarea.A
third historian of ancient Greece, Xenophon
of Athens, began his Hellenica where Thucydides
ended his work about 411 BC and carried his
history to 362 BC. Xenophon's most famous
work is his book The Anabasis, a detailed,
first-hand account of his participation in
a Greek mercenary army that tried to help
the Persian Cyrus expel his brother from the
throne. Xenophon also wrote three works in
praise of the philosopher Socrates: The Apology
of Socrates to the Jury, The Symposium, and
Memorabilia. Although both Xenophon and Plato
knew Socrates, their accounts are very different.
Many comparisons have been made between the
account of the military historian and the
account of the poet-philosopher.
=== Philosophy ===
Many important and influential philosophers
lived during the fifth and fourth centuries
BC. Among the earliest Greek philosophers
were the three so-called "Milesian philosophers":
Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.
Of these philosophers' writings, however,
only one fragment from Anaximander preserved
by Simplicius of Cilicia has survived.Very
little is known for certain about the life
of the philosopher Pythagoras of Samos and
no writings by him have survived to the present
day, but an impressive corpus of poetic writings
written by his pupil Empedocles of Acragas
has survived, making Empedocles one of the
most widely attested Pre-Socratic philosophers.
A large number of fragments written by the
philosophers Heraclitus of Ephesus and Democritus
of Abdera have also survived.Of all the classical
philosophers, however, Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle are generally considered the most
important and influential. Socrates did not
write any books himself and modern scholars
debate whether or not Plato's portrayal of
him is accurate. Some scholars contend that
many of his ideas, or at least a vague approximation
of them, are expressed in Plato's early socratic
dialogues. Meanwhile, other scholars have
argued that Plato's portrayal of Socrates
is merely a fictional representation intended
to expound Plato's own opinions who has very
little to do with the historical figure of
the same name. The debate over the extent
to which Plato's portrayal of Socrates represents
the actual Socrates's ideas is known as the
Socratic problem.
Plato expressed his ideas through dialogues,
that is, written works purporting to describe
conversations between different individuals.
Some of the best-known of these include: The
Apology of Socrates, a purported record of
the speech Socrates gave at his trial; Phaedo,
a description of the last conversation between
Socrates and his disciples before his execution;
The Symposium, a dialogue over the nature
of love; and The Republic, widely regarded
as Plato's most important work, a long dialogue
describing the ideal government.Aristotle
of Stagira is widely considered to be one
of the most important and influential philosophical
thinkers of all time. The first sentence of
his Metaphysics reads: "All men by nature
desire to know." He has, therefore, been called
the "Father of those who know." His medieval
disciple Thomas Aquinas referred to him simply
as "the Philosopher". Aristotle was a student
at Plato's Academy, and like his teacher,
he wrote dialogues, or conversations. However,
none of these exist today. The body of writings
that has come down to the present probably
represents lectures that he delivered at his
own school in Athens, the Lyceum. Even from
these books, the enormous range of his interests
is evident: He explored matters other than
those that are today considered philosophical;
the extant treatises cover logic, the physical
and biological sciences, ethics, politics,
and constitutional government. Among Aristotle's
most notable works are Politics, Nicomachean
Ethics, Poetics, On the Soul, and Rhetoric.
== Hellenistic period ==
By 338 BC all of the Greek city-states except
Sparta had been united by Philip II of Macedon.
Philip's son Alexander the Great extended
his father's conquests greatly. Athens lost
its preeminent status as the leader of Greek
culture, and it was replaced temporarily by
Alexandria, Egypt.The city of Alexandria in
northern Egypt became, from the 3rd century
BC, the outstanding center of Greek culture.
It also soon attracted a large Jewish population,
making it the largest center for Jewish scholarship
in the ancient world. In addition, it later
became a major focal point for the development
of Christian thought. The Musaeum, or Shrine
to the Muses, which included the library and
school, was founded by Ptolemy I. The institution
was from the beginning intended as a great
international school and library. The library,
eventually containing more than a half million
volumes, was mostly in Greek. It was intended
to serve as a repository for every work of
classical Greek literature that could be found.
=== Poetry ===
The genre of bucolic poetry was first developed
by the poet Theocritus. The Roman Virgil later
wrote his Eclogues in this genre. Callimachus,
a scholar at the Library of Alexandria, composed
the Aetia ("Causes"), a long poem written
in four volumes of elegiac couplets describing
the legendary origins of obscure customs,
festivals, and names, which he probably wrote
in several stages over the course of many
years in the third century BC. The Aetia was
lost during the Middle Ages, but, over the
course of the twentieth century, much of it
was recovered due to new discoveries of ancient
papyri. Scholars initially denigrated it as
"second-rate", showing great learning, but
lacking true "art". Over the course of the
century, scholarly appraisal of it greatly
improved, with many scholars now seeing it
in a much more positive light. Callimachus
also wrote short poems for special occasions
and at least one short epic, the Ibis, which
was directed against his former pupil Apollonius.
He also compiled a prose treatise entitled
the Pinakes, in which he catalogued all the
major works held in the Library of Alexandria.The
Alexandrian poet Apollonius of Rhodes is best
known for his epic poem the Argonautica, which
narrates the adventures of Jason and his shipmates
the Argonauts on their quest to retrieve the
Golden Fleece from the land of Colchis. The
poet Aratus wrote the hexameter poem Phaenomena,
a poetic rendition of Eudoxus of Cnidus's
treatise on the stars written in the fourth
century BC.
=== Drama ===
During the Hellenistic period, the Old Comedy
of the Classical Era was replaced by New Comedy.
The most notable writer of New Comedy was
the Athenian playwright Menander. None of
Menander's plays have survived to the present
day in their complete form, but one play,
The Bad-Tempered Man, has survived to the
present day in a near-complete form. Large
portions of another play entitled The Girl
from Samos have also survived.
=== Historiography ===
The historian Timaeus was born in Sicily but
spent most of his life in Athens. His History,
though lost, is significant because of its
influence on Polybius. In 38 books it covered
the history of Sicily and Italy to the year
264 BC, which is where Polybius begins his
work. Timaeus also wrote the Olympionikai,
a valuable chronological study of the Olympic
Games.
=== Science and mathematics ===
Eratosthenes of Alexandria (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194
BC), wrote on astronomy and geography, but
his work is known mainly from later summaries.
He is credited with being the first person
to measure the Earth's circumference. Much
that was written by the mathematicians Euclid
and Archimedes has been preserved. Euclid
is known for his Elements, much of which was
drawn from his predecessor Eudoxus of Cnidus.
The Elements is a treatise on geometry, and
it has exerted a continuing influence on mathematics.
From Archimedes several treatises have come
down to the present. Among them are Measurement
of the Circle, in which he worked out the
value of pi; The Method of Mechanical Theorems,
on his work in mechanics; The Sand Reckoner;
and On Floating Bodies. A manuscript of his
works is currently being studied.
=== Prose fiction ===
Very little has survived of prose fiction
from the Hellenistic Era. The Milesiaka by
Aristides of Miletos was probably written
during the second century BC. The Milesiaka
itself has not survived to the present day
in its complete form, but various references
to it have survived. The book established
a whole new genre of so-called "Milesian tales,"
of which The Golden Ass by the later Roman
writer Apuleius is a prime example.The ancient
Greek novels Chaereas and Callirhoe by Chariton
and Metiochus and Parthenope were probably
both written during the late first century
BC or early first century AD, during the latter
part of the Hellenistic Era. The discovery
of several fragments of Lollianos's Phoenician
Tale reveal the existence of a genre of ancient
Greek picaresque novel.
== Roman period ==
While the transition from city-state to empire
affected philosophy a great deal, shifting
the emphasis from political theory to personal
ethics, Greek letters continued to flourish
both under the Successors (especially the
Ptolemies) and under Roman rule. Romans of
literary or rhetorical inclination looked
to Greek models, and Greek literature of all
types continued to be read and produced both
by native speakers of Greek and later by Roman
authors as well. A notable characteristic
of this period was the expansion of literary
criticism as a genre, particularly as exemplified
by Demetrius, Pseudo-Longinus and Dionysius
of Halicarnassus. The New Testament, written
by various authors in varying qualities of
Koine Greek also hails from this period, the
most important works being the Gospels and
the Epistles of Saint Paul.
=== Poetry ===
The poet Quintus of Smyrna, who probably lived
during the late fourth century AD, wrote Posthomerica,
an epic poem narrating the story of the fall
of Troy, beginning where The Iliad left off.The
poet Nonnus of Panopolis wrote The Dionysiaca,
the longest surviving epic poem from antiquity.
He also wrote a poetic paraphrase of The Gospel
of John. Nonnus probably lived sometime during
the late fourth century AD or early fifth
century AD.
=== Historiography ===
The historian Polybius was born about 200
BC. He was brought to Rome as a hostage in
168. In Rome he became a friend of the general
Scipio Aemilianus. He probably accompanied
the general to Spain and North Africa in the
wars against Carthage. He was with Scipio
at the destruction of Carthage in 146.Diodorus
Siculus was a Greek historian who lived in
the 1st century BC, around the time of Julius
Caesar and Augustus. He wrote a universal
history, Bibliotheca Historica, in 40 books.
Of these, the first five and the 11th through
the 20th remain. The first two parts covered
history through the early Hellenistic era.
The third part takes the story to the beginning
of Caesar's wars in Gaul, now France. Dionysius
of Halicarnassus lived late in the first century
BC. His history of Rome from its origins to
the First Punic War (264 to 241 BC) is written
from a Roman point of view, but it is carefully
researched. He also wrote a number of other
treatises, including On Imitation, Commentaries
on the Ancient Orators, and On the Arrangement
of Words.The historians Appian of Alexandria
and Arrian of Nicomedia both lived in the
second century AD. Appian wrote on Rome and
its conquests, while Arrian is remembered
for his work on the campaigns of Alexander
the Great. Arrian served in the Roman army.
His book therefore concentrates heavily on
the military aspects of Alexander's life.
Arrian also wrote a philosophical treatise,
the Diatribai, based on the teachings of his
mentor Epictetus.
Best known of the late Greek historians to
modern readers is Plutarch of Chaeronea, who
died about AD 119. His Parallel Lives of great
Greek and Roman leaders has been read by every
generation since the work was first published.
His other surviving work is the Moralia, a
collection of essays on ethical, religious,
political, physical, and literary topics.During
later times, so-called "commonplace books,"
usually describing historical anecdotes, became
quite popular. Surviving examples of this
popular genre include works such as Aulus
Gellius's Attic Nights, Athenaeus of Naucratis's
Deipnosophistae, and Claudius Aelianus's De
Natura Animalium and Varia Historia.
=== Science and mathematics ===
The physician Galen lived during the 2nd century
AD. He was a careful student of anatomy, and
his works exerted a powerful influence on
medicine for the next 1,400 years. Strabo,
who died about AD 23, was a geographer and
historian. His Historical Sketches in 47 volumes
has nearly all been lost. His Geographical
Sketches remain as the only existing ancient
book covering the whole range of people and
countries known to the Greeks and Romans through
the time of Augustus. Pausanias, who lived
in the 2nd century AD, was also a geographer.
His Description of Greece is a travel guide
describing the geography and mythic history
of Greece during the second century. The book
takes the form of a tour of Greece, starting
in Athens and ending in Naupactus.The scientist
of the Roman period who had the greatest influence
on later generations was undoubtedly the astronomer
Ptolemy. He lived during the 2nd century AD,
though little is known of his life. His masterpiece,
originally entitled The Mathematical Collection,
has come to the present under the title Almagest,
as it was translated by Arab astronomers with
that title. It was Ptolemy who devised a detailed
description of an Earth-centered universe,
a notion that dominated astronomical thinking
for more than 1,300 years. The Ptolemaic view
of the universe endured until Copernicus,
Galileo, Kepler, and other early modern astronomers
replaced it with heliocentrism.
=== Philosophy ===
Epictetus (c. 55 AD – 135 AD) was associated
with the moral philosophy of the Stoics. His
teachings were collected by his pupil Arrian
in the Discourses and the Encheiridion (Manual
of Study).Diogenes Laertius, who lived in
the third century AD, wrote Lives and Opinions
of Eminent Philosophers, a voluminous collection
of biographies of nearly every Greek philosopher
who ever lived. Unfortunately, Diogenes Laertius
often fails to cite his sources and many modern
historians consider his testimony unreliable.
Nonetheless, in spite of this, he remains
the only available source on the lives of
many early Greek philosophers. His book is
not entirely without merit; it does preserve
a tremendous wealth of information that otherwise
would not have been preserved. His biography
of Epicurus, for instance, is of particularly
high quality and contains three lengthy letters
attributed to Epicurus himself, at least two
of which are generally agreed to be authentic.Another
major philosopher of his period was Plotinus.
He transformed Plato's philosophy into a school
called Neoplatonism. His Enneads had a wide-ranging
influence on European thought until at least
the seventeenth century. Plotinus's philosophy
mainly revolved around the concepts of nous,
psyche, and the "One."After the rise of Christianity,
many of the most important philosophers were
Christians. The second-century Christian apologist
Justin Martyr, who wrote exclusively in Greek,
made extensive use of ideas from Greek philosophy,
especially Platonism. Origen of Alexandria,
the founder of Christian theology, also made
extensive use of ideas from Greek philosophy
and was even able to hold his own against
the pagan philosopher Celsus in his apologetic
treatise Contra Celsum.
=== Prose fiction ===
The Roman Period was the time when the majority
of extant works of Greek prose fiction were
composed. The ancient Greek novels Leucippe
and Clitophon by Achilles Tatius and Daphnis
and Chloe by Longus were both probably written
during the early second century AD. Daphnis
and Chloe, by far the most famous of the five
surviving ancient Greek romance novels, is
a nostalgic tale of two young lovers growing
up in an idealized pastoral environment on
the Greek island of Lesbos. The Wonders Beyond
Thule by Antonius Diogenes may have also been
written during the early second century AD,
although scholars are unsure of its exact
date. The Wonders Beyond Thule has not survived
in its complete form, but a very lengthy summary
of it written by Photios I of Constantinople
has survived. The Ephesian Tale by Xenophon
of Ephesus was probably written during the
late second century AD.
The satirist Lucian of Samosata lived during
the late second century AD. Lucian's works
were incredibly popular during antiquity.
Over eighty different writings attributed
to Lucian have survived to the present day.
Almost all of Lucian's works are written in
the heavily Atticized dialect of ancient Greek
language prevalent among the well-educated
at the time. His book The Syrian Goddess,
however, was written in a faux-Ionic dialect,
deliberately imitating the dialect and style
of Herodotus. Lucian's most famous work is
the novel A True Story, which some authors
have described as the earliest surviving work
of science fiction. His dialogue The Lover
of Lies contains several of the earliest known
ghost stories as well as the earliest known
version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." His
letter The Passing of Peregrinus, a ruthless
satire against Christians, contains one of
the earliest pagan appraisals of early Christianity.The
Aethiopica by Heliodorus of Emesa was probably
written during the third century AD. It tells
the story of a young Ethiopian princess named
Chariclea, who is estranged from her family
and goes on many misadventures across the
known world. Of all the ancient Greek novels,
the one that attained the greatest level of
popularity was the Alexander Romance, a fictionalized
account of the exploits of Alexander the Great
written in the third century AD. Eighty versions
of it have survived in twenty-four different
languages, attesting that, during the Middle
Ages, the novel was nearly as popular as the
Bible. Versions of the Alexander Romance were
so commonplace in the fourteenth century that
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote that "...every wight
that hath discrecioun / Hath herd somwhat
or al of [Alexander's] fortune."
== Legacy ==
Ancient Greek literature has had an enormous
impact on western literature as a whole. Ancient
Roman authors adopted various styles and motifs
from ancient Greek literature. These ideas
were later, in turn, adopted by other western
European writers and literary critics. Ancient
Greek literature especially influenced later
Greek literature. For instance, the Greek
novels influenced the later work Hero and
Leander, written by Musaeus Grammaticus. Ancient
Roman writers were acutely aware of the ancient
Greek literary legacy and many deliberately
emulated the style and formula of Greek classics
in their own works. The Roman poet Vergil,
for instance, modeled his epic poem The Aeneid
on The Iliad and The Odyssey.During the Middle
Ages, ancient Greek literature was largely
forgotten in Western Europe. The medieval
writer Roger Bacon wrote that "there are not
four men in Latin Christendom who are acquainted
with the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic grammars."
It was not until the Renaissance that Greek
writings were rediscovered by western European
scholars. During the Renaissance, Greek began
to be taught in western European colleges
and universities for the first time, which
resulted in western European scholars rediscovering
the literature of ancient Greece. The Textus
Receptus, the first New Testament printed
in the original Greek, was published in 1512
by the Italian humanist scholar Desiderius
Erasmus. Erasmus also published Latin translations
of classical Greek texts, including a Latin
translation of Hesiod's Works and Days.The
influence of classical Greek literature on
modern literature is also evident. Numerous
figures from classical literature and mythology
appear throughout The Divine Comedy by Dante
Alighieri. Plutarch's Lives were a major influence
on William Shakespeare and served as the main
source behind his tragedies Julius Caesar,
Antony and Cleopatra, and Coriolanus. Shakespeare's
comedies A Comedy of Errors and The Twelfth
Night drew heavily on themes from Graeco-Roman
New Comedy. Meanwhile, Shakespeare's tragedy
Timon of Athens was inspired by a story written
by Lucian and his comedy Pericles, Prince
of Tyre was based off an adaptation of the
ancient Greek novel Apollonius of Tyre found
in John Gower's Confessio Amantis.
John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost is written
using a similar style to the two Homeric epics.
It also makes frequent allusions to figures
from classical literature and mythology, using
them as symbols to convey a Christian message.
Lucian's A True Story was part of the inspiration
for Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels.
Bulfinch's Mythology, a book on Greek mythology
published in 1867 and aimed at a popular audience,
was described by Carl J. Richard as "one of
the most popular books ever published in the
United States".George Bernard Shaw's play
Pygmalion is a modern, rationalized retelling
of the ancient Greek legend of Pygmalion.
James Joyce's novel Ulysses, heralded by critics
as one of the greatest works of modern literature,
is a retelling of Homer's Odyssey set in modern-day
Dublin. The mid-twentieth-century British
author Mary Renault wrote a number of critically
acclaimed novels inspired by ancient Greek
literature and mythology, including The Last
of the Wine and The King Must Die.Even in
works that do not consciously draw on Graeco-Roman
literature, authors often employ concepts
and themes originating in ancient Greece.
The ideas expressed in Aristotle's Poetics,
in particular, have influenced generations
of Western writers and literary critics. A
Latin translation of an Arabic version of
the Poetics by Averroes was available during
the Middle Ages. Common Greek literary terms
still used today include: catharsis, ethos,
anagnorisis, hamartia, hubris, mimesis, mythos,
nemesis, and peripeteia.
== Notes ==
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Beye, Charles Rowan (1987). Ancient Greek
Literature and Society. Ithaca, New York:
Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-1874-7.
Easterling, P.E.; Knox, B.M.W., eds. (1985).
The Cambridge History of Classical Literature:
Volume 1: Greek literature. Cambridge [Cambridgeshire];
New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0-521-21042-9.
Flacelière, Robert (1964). A Literary History
of Greece. (Translated by Douglas Garman).
Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co.
Gutzwiller, Kathryn (2007). A Guide to Hellenistic
Literature. Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-23322-9.
Hadas, Moses (1950). A History of Greek Literature.
New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Lesky, Albin (1966). A History of Greek Literature.
Translated by James Willis; Cornelis de Heer.
Indianapolis / Cambridge: Hackett Publishing
Company, Inc. ISBN 0-87220-350-6.
Schmidt, Michael (2004). The First Poets:
Lives of the Ancient Greek Poets. London:
Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-64394-0.
C. A. Trypanis (1981). Greek Poetry from Homer
to Seferis. University of Chicago Press.
Whitmarsh, Tim (2004). Ancient Greek Literature.
Cambridge: Polity Press. ISBN 0-7456-2792-7.
== External links ==
Works related to Ancient Greek literature
at Wikisource
Ancient Greek Literature Library - Found at
Demonax.info
