VALDEZ, Cheryl Jane B.

BST 2A COURSE REQUIREMENT

WORLD LITERATURE 19 November, 2012

History of Greek Literature Greek literature stretches from Homer until the 4th century BC and the rise of Alexander the Great. At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two monumental works of Homer, the Iliad and 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. The Iliad is the famous story about the Trojan War. It centers on the person of Achilles, who embodied the Greek heroic ideal. While the Iliad is pure tragedy, the Odyssey is a mixture of tragedy and comedy. It is the story 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. During his ten years 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, direct, and eloquent. Both are as fascinatingly readable today as they were in ancient Greece. The Greeks invented the epic and lyric forms and used them skillfully. They also invented drama and produced masterpieces that are still reckoned as dramas crowning achievement. In the age that followed the Greco-Persian Wars, the awakened national spirit of Athens was expressed in hundreds of superb 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. 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 were held in the great open-air theater of Dionysus in Athens. All of the greatest competed for the prizes offered for the best plays. Of the hundreds of dramas written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The earliest of the three was Aeschylus, who was born in 525 BC. He wrote between 70 and 90 plays, of which only seven remain. Many of his dramas were arranged as trilogies, groups of three plays on a single theme. The Oresteia consisting of Agamemnon, Choepphoroi (The Libation Bearers), and Eumenides is the only surviving trilogy. The Persai (The Persians) is a song of triumph for the defeat of the Persians, Prometheus Bound is a retelling of the legend of the Titan Prometheus, a superhuman who stole fire from heaven and gave it to mankind. For about 16 years, between 484 and 468 BC, Aeschylus carried of prize after prize. But 484 hi place was taken by a new favorite, Sophocles. Sophocles life covered nearly the whole period of Athens gold age. He won more than 20 victories at the Dionysian festivals and produced more than 100 plays, only seven of which remain. His drama Antigone is typical of his work: its heroine is a model of womanly self-sacrifice. He is probably better known, though, for Oedipus the King and its sequel, Oedipus at Colonus. Two of the most excellent historians who have ever written flourished during Greeces classical age: Herodotus and Thucydides. Herodotus is commonly called the father of history, and his History contains the first truly literary use of prose in Western literature. Of the two, Thucydides was the better historian. His critical

use of sources, inclusion of documents, and laborious research made his History of the Peloponnesian war a significant influence on later generations of historians. The greatest achievement of the 3rd century was in philosophy. There were many Greek philosophers, but three names tower above the rest: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. It is impossible to calculate the enormous influence these thinkers have had on Western society. Socrates himself wrote nothing, but his thought (or a reasonable presentation of it) is believed to be given by Platos early socratic dialogues. Aristotle is virtually without rivals among scientists and philosophers. 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 Platos Academy, and it is known that like his teacher he wrote dialogues, or conversations. None of these exists 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 treaties that exist cover logic, the physical and biological sciences, ethics, politics, and constitutional government. There are also treatises on The Soul and Rhetoric. His Poetics has had an enormous influence on literary theory and served as an interpretation of tragedy for more than 2,000 years. With his death in 322 BC, the classical era of Greek literature drew to a close. In the successive centuries of Greek writing there was never again such a brilliant flowering of genius as appeared in the 5th and 4th by 338 BC. All of the Greek city-states except Sparta had been conquered by Philip II of Macedon. Philips son Alexander the Great extended his fathers conquests greatly. In so doing he inaugurated what is called the Hellenistic Ages. Alexanders conquests were in the East, and Greek culture shifted first in that direction. Athens lost it preeminent status as the leader of Greek culture, and it was replaced temporarily by Alexandria, Egypt. After the rise of Rome, all the Mediterranean area was brought within one far-flung empire. Greek civilization then spread westward as well. Educated Romans learned to speak and write Greek, and they looked to Greeces golden age for inspiration in philosophy, poetry, and drama centuries BC. The city of Alexandria in northern Egypt became, from the 3 rd 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 Museum, 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 served as a repository for every Greek work of the classical period that could be found. Had the library lasted, it would have presented to modern scholars nearly every ancient book for study. The library lasted for several centuries but was destroyed during the reign of the Roman emperor Aurelian late in the 3rd century AD. A smaller library was destroyed by the Christians in 391 because it harbored so many non-Christian works. One of the most valuable contributions of the Hellenistic period was the translation of the Old Testament into Greek. The work was done at Alexandria and completed by the end of the 2nd century BC. The name Septuagint means seventy, from the tradition that there were 72 scholars who did the work. Since the language of the early Christian community was Greek, the Septuagint became its Bible. Other books not in the Hebrew Bible were also written in Greek and included what is called the Apocrypha.

In the order to enjoy and understand further the classical Greek literature, it is imperative to be acquainted with their gods and goddesses. Greek literature is usually incorporated with the actions of the deities. The Greek believed in gods created the universe. They believed the universe created the gods and these deities have the same emotions and caprices as humans. History of Indian Literature India, officially known as the Republic of India, is a sovereign country in South Asia. It is the seventhlargest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, India has a coastline of over 7000 kilometers. It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia. Home to the Indus Valley civilization and a region of historic trade routes and vast empires, the Indian subcontinent was identified with its commercial and cultural wealth for much of its long history. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Sikhism originated here, while Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the regions variegated culture. Gradually annexed by the British East India Company from the early eighteenth century and colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century; India became a modern nation-state in 1947 after struggle for independence that was marked by widespread use of nonviolent resistance as a means of social protest. Historically, South Asia was always famous as the richest region of the globe. Currently with the worlds 12th largest economy by market exchange rates and the 3rd largest in purchasing power. India has made rapid economic progress in the last decade. Although the countrys standard of living is projected to rise sharply in the next half-century, it currently battles high levels of poverty, illiteracy, persistent, malnutrition, and environmental degradation. A pluralistic, multi-lingual, and multi-ethnic society, India is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. Indians believed in many and different gods. Three most powerful gods are Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Brahma is the creator-god; Vishnu, the preserve-god, and Shiva, the destroyer-god. History of Italian Literature Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly by citizens of Italy. It may also refer to literature written by people living in Italy who speak other languages. The collective works have a long, influential history. Prominent authors include Dante Alighieri, Machiavelli and Petrarch. Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BC 19 BC), later called Virgilius, and known in English as Virgil or Vergil, was a classical Roman poet, the author of epics in three modes: the Bucolics (commonly but less correctly called the Eclogues), the Georgics and the substantially completed Aeneid, the last being an epic poem in the heroic mode, which comprised twelve books (as opposed to 24 in each of the epic poems by Homer) and became the Roman Empires national epic. Since Virgil depicted his hero Aeneas seeking advice from his

father Anchises in the underworld, Dante Alighieri made the shade of Virgil his own guide for his pilgrimage through the inferno and part of purgatory in his own epic poem The Divine Comedy. Virgil wrote in dactylic hexameter and used epic poem conventions in conscious imitation of the master, Homer. Books I-VI are Odyssean and the remainder Iliadic. His public voice provides a founding myth that glorifies Caesar Augustus and the peace hard-won by him- unlike as in Homer, the Aeneid incorporates a vision of history and destiny. But his private voice depicts the suffering and heavy price paid by the conquered peoples, particularly as illustrated by Dido. The work was written 29-19 BC and was incomplete at the time of his death Augustus overrode Virgils request that it be destroyed.

REFERENCES: Tendero, E., and H. Mora. 2008. World Literature (The Literary Masterpieces of the World). Manila: Grandwater Publications. Banaag, Amada. 2003. A Journey through World Literature. Quezon City: Great Books Trading