Greek Literature Homer, Aeschylus, and Euripides - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Greek Literature

Homer, Aeschylus, and Euripides

Homer: Early Life

Son of Epikaste and TelemachusBorn: around 800 BC (8th-9th century BC)Got an educationWas a court singer Lived either in Chios or IoniaBlind: Greeks thought that being blind gave you insightQuestions of whether he even existed or not

Homer: Literature

Heroes were usually womanizers, got help from the gods, and went on great journeys

Wrote primarily epics (

The Iliad, Odyssey)

A great story teller

Many literary terms are devised from Homer’s works:

Homeric simile-

a comparison between two things, using like or as, developed over multiple lines of verse

Homeric hero-

creation

of a character

that overcomes feats and does heroic deeds in epics

Homeric style-

stock epithets and reiteration

Just to name a few.

The Iliad

Written in dactylic hexameter: form of meter in poetry

Originally thought of as poetry, but in the 1920s, was thought of as an oral tradition

Was in fact told by

G

reeks to young men to prepare them for war

Set during Trojan War

Tells of the battles and events that took place during the Trojan War

Themes:

The Glory of War

Military Success Over Family Values

Temporariness of Human Creations

The Odyssey

Homeric epics

Tells of Odysseus’ adventure home after the Trojan War to Ithaca, and the multiple challenges he and his crew must overcome. Also speaks about what is happening with Odysseus’ wife and child at

I

thaca while he is away. Help from gods and goddesses, deceit, extreme hubris, and monsters and creatures are seen to add to the action

Thought to be written somewhere between 750 and 650 BC

An example of a Homeric hero: Odysseus

The Odyssey

Consists of 24 booksMotifs:Story tellingDisguisesCunning WomenThemes:Smarts Vs. StrengthTemptation

Homer: Death

Died around 701 BC in Ios, GreeceMany different stories of his death:Drowned in a tide poolOld ageCommitted suicideShot by a brother who was mad at him

Aeschylus: Early Life

B

orn in 525

BC in

Eleusis, Greece

Father: Euphorion (mother is un-known)

Family was well-off, wealthy

Worked at a vineyard

Got an education

Wrote his first play at the age of twenty-six

Won his first festival when he was 41

Wrote mainly tragedies

Aeschylus: Plays

Trojan War was a large part in his works

Second of the three major tragedy writers (other two being Sophocles and Euripides

Wrote between seventy and ninety plays

Only seven surviving works

All seven surviving plays won first place in drama festivals

Often writes connected trilogies

Aeschylus: Plays

Highly influentialMade costumes very elaborate to add to the playsWritten in verseNo violence was performed on stageStrong religious values set in plays Plays were often set in far away lands or about gods

Aeschylus: Surviving Plays

The PersiansSeven against ThebesThe SuppliantsAgamemnonThe Libation BearersThe EumenidesPrometheus Bound

Trilogy known

as

The Oresteia

Aeschylus:Death

Died in 456 BCItalyHas a quite interesting death: An eagle was flying above with a tortoise in his mouth, mistook Aeschylus’ bald spot for a rock, and dropped the tortoise on top of his head.

Euripides: Early Life

Born: 484 BC in Athens, Greece or on the island of Salamis

Mother was Cleito and father was Mnesarchus or Mnesarchides

Father provided an education for

E

uripides

Was at first going to be an athlete

Had a wife,

M

elito, and three sons

Women- hater

Didn’t believe in the Greek gods and goddesses of mythology

Wrote first play at twenty-five:

The Peliodes

From then on was a tragic poet

Euripides: Plays

Euripides was one of the three masters of tragedy (following Sophocles and Aeschylus)Often reflected Euripides’ questioning of Greek religion and society itselfWrote 92 plays overall, but only eighteen plays survive todayWon first prize at four drama festivalsWas chosen twenty times to be one of three recognized writers (laureates) each year

Euripides: Plays

Plays

often called tragicomedies (comedic tragedy

)

Characters were often ordinary people in extraordinary situations

Many women were shown as angry, or fierce, heroines

Large use of prologues: almost all plays started with a monologue explaining the situation

Not much use for chorus

Most known for his skill of expressing pathos

Euripides: Plays

Often time was taken in the middle of scenes for characters to debate philosophy and social issues

Had beautiful songs and lyrics

Characters’ usually tragic fates were because of their own flaws and mistakes

Mocked the gods

A god was usually revealed at the end and had a long epilogue about the future

Euripides: The Tragedies

AlcestisMedeaChildren of HerculesHippolytusAndromacheHecubaSuppliantsElectraTrojan WomenIphigenia Among the TauriansHelenPhoenician WomenOrestesIphigenia at AulisBacchants (The Bacchae)CyclopsMadness of HeraclesIon

Euripides: Late Life

Re-married:

Choirile and possibly had a daughter

Left Athens: possibly because of his disappointment in the reaction to his plays or because of the Peloponnesian War

Wrote The Bacchae, one of his most widely known works

Went into a self-imposed exile

Died in 406 BC in Macedonia: unknown how, most say it was of old age