1. What is a Myth?

The Greek term "mythos," from which the English word

"myth" is derived, means "the story of the people," "fiction,"
"utterance," "tale," or "legend." The entire idea of a myth in
literature seems to be very different from the standard definition,
which states that a myth is a widely held idea or belief that is
untrue or incorrect. A ancient tale that typically seeks to explain a
natural or social phenomena is known to as a myth in literature.
The usage of supernatural creatures is frequent in literary tales,
and the particular era usually corresponds to the early history of
the emergence of many civilizations.

2. Describe the following era of Greek Literature:

a)Pre-Classical,

In Greek literature, the pre-classical era is where “Illiad and

Odyssey” by Homer and ‘Work and Days and Theogony” Hesiod
become popular and the era where these are written. The entirety
of preclassical Greek literature focused on myths and included the
works of Homer.

b) Classical,

The classical era is where Many of the western literature

genres received attention throughout the classical era. This time
saw the emergence of lyrical poetry, odes, pastorals, elegies,
epigrams, comedies and tragedies on stage, histories, rhetorical
treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises. Two
lyrical poet arises named Sappho and Pindar. It is also the dawn of
drama which has 3 known authors Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides. The comedy was born out of a Dionysus ritual. These
plays were packed with obscenity, abuse, and insult. And also
Greek philosophy flourished. The most well-known philosophers
are Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
 c) Hellenistic

The three centuries of Greek history between the death of

the Macedonian king Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E. and the
rise of Augustus in Rome in 31 B.C.E. Greek poetry flourished
with significant contributions from Theocritus, Callimachus, and
Apollonius of Rhodes. Theocritus, who lived from about 310 to
250 BC, was the creator of pastoral poetry, a type that the Roman
Virgil mastered in his Eclogues. Drama was represented by the
New Comedy. And one of the most valuable contributions of the
Hellenistic period was the Septuagint translation of the Old
Testament into Greek.

d) Roman Age

Significant works on the subjects of poetry, comedy, history,

and tragedy were produced in Greek throughout the Roman era.
Histories made up a large amount of the literature from this era.
Eratosthenes of Alexandria focused on geography and astronomy,
although today most people only know summaries of what he
wrote. Galen, a physician, made significant contributions to the
fields of anatomy, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, and
neurology. The majority of the novels from Ancient Greece were
also written at this time. The New Testament, written by various
authors in varying qualities of Koine Greek, hails from this period.

3. Describe the Byzantine Era of Greek Mythology

Greek literature from the Middle Ages, whether it was

produced inside or outside the Byzantine Empire, can be roughly
categorized as byzantine literature. Many of the classical Greek
genres, including drama and choral lyric poetry, had long since
gone out of fashion by late antiquity. Additionally, all Greek
literature suffered to some extent from an archaizing language
and style, which was sustained by a long-standing educational
system in which rhetoric was a major subject. Greek and Christian
civilizations were united in Byzantine literature, which was built
on the same principles as Roman politics. The Near Eastern
 intellectual and anthropological environment served as the
backdrop for this genre of writing. Greek, Christian, Roman, and
Oriental cultures are all represented in byzantine literature.

4. Select 2 Greek god and 2 goddess of Greek

mythology and describe them shortly.

Ares – The god of war. Though his fellow deities weren’t particularly
fond of him, the Spartans had no problems, er, donating some prisoners
of war to his worship

Apollo - Apollo, Artemis' identical twin, was one of the most revered
deities. Son of Zeus, he used a range of instruments, most notably
oracles, to communicate the intentions of his fellow gods..

Athena - The goddess of reason, understanding, and war was

Athena. She is renowned for emerging fully formed from Zeus's
forehead.

Aphrodite - The goddess of lust, adornment, and beauty was

Aphrodite. She was claimed to have appeared from the foam
created when her father's severed testicles, Uranus, were thrown
into the sea by his son, the Titan Cronus.