Greek literature, ancient definition of Greek literature, ancient in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Greek literature, ancient, the writings of the ancient Greeks. The Greek Isles are recognized as the birthplace of Western intellectual life.

Early Writings

The earliest extant European literary works are the Iliad and the Odyssey, both written in ancient Greek probably before 700 B.C., and attributed to Homer Homer, principal figure of ancient Greek literature; the first European poet.

Works, Life, and Legends

Two epic poems are attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
..... Click the link for more information. . Among other early epic poems, most of which have perished, those of Hesiod Hesiod (hē`sēəd, hĕs`–), fl. 8th cent.? B.C., Greek poet.
..... Click the link for more information. , the first didactic poet, remain. The poems dealing with mythological subjects and known as the Homeric Hymns are dated 800–300 B.C. Only fragments survive of the works of many early Greek poets, including the elegiasts Tyrtaeus Tyrtaeus (tərtē`əs), fl. 7th cent. B.C. at Sparta, Greek elegiac poet.
..... Click the link for more information. , Theognis Theognis (thēŏg`nĭs), fl. 6th cent. B.C., Greek didactic poet of Megara.
..... Click the link for more information. , Solon Solon (sō`lən), c.639–c.559 B.C., Athenian statesman, lawgiver, and reformer.
..... Click the link for more information. , Semonides of Amorgos Semonides of Amorgos (sĭmŏn`ĭdēz, əmôr`gŏs), fl. c.650 B.C., Greek iambic poet, b. Samos.
..... Click the link for more information. , Archilochus Archilochus (ärkĭl`əkəs), fl. c.700 or c.650 B.C., Greek poet, b. Paros.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Hipponax Hipponax (hĭpō`năks), fl. 540 B.C., Greek iambic poet.
..... Click the link for more information. . The most personal Greek poems are the lyrics of Alcaeus Alcaeus (ălsē`əs), c.620–c.580 B.C., Greek lyric poet of Lesbos.
..... Click the link for more information. , Sappho Sappho (săf`ō), fl. early 6th cent. B.C., greatest of the early Greek lyric poets (Plato calls her "the tenth Muse"), b.
..... Click the link for more information. and Anacreon Anacreon (ənăk`rēən, –ŏn), c.570–c.485 B.C., Greek lyric poet, b. Teos in Ionia.
..... Click the link for more information. . The Dorian lyric for choral performance, developed with Alcman Alcman (ălk`mən), fl. 620 B.C., Greek lyric poet of Sparta.
..... Click the link for more information. , Ibycus Ibycus (ĭb`ĭkəs), fl. before 500 B.C., Greek lyric poet, b. Rhegium, S Italy.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Stesichorus Stesichorus (stēsĭk`ərəs), fl. c.600 B.C., Greek lyric poet.
..... Click the link for more information. , achieved perfection in Pindar Pindaric ode refers to a verse form used primarily in England in the 17th and 18th cent. The form, based on a somewhat faulty understanding of the metrical pattern used by Pindar, originated with Abraham Cowley in his Pindarique Odes
..... Click the link for more information. , Simonides of Ceos Simonides of Ceos (sīmŏn`ĭdēz, sē`ŏs), c.556–468? B.C., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Bacchylides Bacchylides (băkĭl`ĭdēz), fl. c.470 B.C., Greek lyric poet, b. Ceos; nephew of Simonides of Ceos.
..... Click the link for more information. .

The Classical Period

Greek drama evolved from the song and dance in the ceremonies honoring Dionysus at Athens. In the 5th cent. B.C. tragedy was developed by three of the greatest dramatists in the history of the theater, Aeschylus Aeschylus (ĕs`kĭləs, ēs`–), 525–456 B.C., Athenian tragic dramatist, b. Eleusis.
..... Click the link for more information. , Sophocles Sophocles (sŏf`əklēz), c.496 B.C.–406 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Euripides Euripides (yrĭp`ĭdēz), 480 or 485–406 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. . Equally exalted was the foremost exponent of Attic Old Comedy, Aristophanes Aristophanes (ăr'ĭstŏf`ənēz), c.448 B.C.–c.388 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. . Other writers who developed this genre included Cratinus Cratinus (krətī`nəs), d. c.419 B.C., Athenian comic dramatist.
..... Click the link for more information. and Eupolis Eupolis (y`pəlĭs), fl. 430–411 B.C., Athenian comic poet.
..... Click the link for more information. , of whom little is known. The rowdy humor of these early works gave way to the more sedate Middle Comedy and finally to New Comedy, which set the form for this type of drama. The best-known writer of Greek New Comedy is Menander Menander (mĭnăn`dər), 342?–291? B.C., Greek poet, the most famous writer of New Comedy.
..... Click the link for more information. .

The writing of history came of age in Greece with the rich and diffuse work of Herodotus Herodotus (hērŏd`ətəs), 484?–425? B.C., Greek historian, called the Father of History, b. Halicarnassus, Asia Minor.
..... Click the link for more information. , the precise and exhaustive accounts of Thucydides Thucydides (thsĭd`ĭdēz), c.460–c.400 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the rushing narrative of Xenophon Xenophon (zĕn`əfən), c.430 B.C.–c.355 B.C., Greek historian, b. Athens.
..... Click the link for more information. . Philosophical writing of unprecedented breadth was produced during this brief period of Athenian literature; the works of Plato Plato (plā`tō), 427?–347 B.C., Greek philosopher.
..... Click the link for more information. and Aristotle Aristotle (ăr'ĭstŏt`əl), 384–322 B.C., Greek philosopher, b. Stagira. He is sometimes called the Stagirite.
..... Click the link for more information. have had an incalculable effect in the shaping of Western thought.

Greek oratory, of immense importance in the ancient world, was perfected at this time. Among the most celebrated orators were Antiphon Antiphon (ăn`tĭfŏn, –fən), c.479–411 B.C., Athenian orator.
..... Click the link for more information. , Andocides Andocides (ăndŏs`ĭdēz), c.440–390 B.C., one of the Ten Attic Orators (see oratory ). In 415 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , Lysias Lysias (lĭs`ēəs), c.459–c.380 B.C., Attic orator; son of Cephalus, a Syracusan. After the capture (404 B.C.
..... Click the link for more information. , Isocrates Isocrates (īsŏk`rətēz), 436–338 B.C., one of the Ten Attic Orators. He was a pupil of Socrates and of the Sophists.
..... Click the link for more information. , Isaeus, Lycurgus Lycurgus, c.396–c.325 B.C., one of the Ten Attic Orators of the Alexandrian canon; pupil of Isocrates. A capable and honored public official, he administered the state finances from 338 to 326 B.C. and led (with Demosthenes) the anti-Macedonian party.
..... Click the link for more information. , Aeschines Aeschines (ĕ`skĭnēz), c.390–314? B.C., Athenian orator, rival of Demosthenes .
..... Click the link for more information. , and, considered the greatest of all, Demosthenes Demosthenes (dĭmŏs`thənēz), 384?–322 B.C., Greek orator, generally considered the greatest of the Greek orators.
..... Click the link for more information. . "Classical" Greek literature is said to have ended with the deaths of Aristotle and Demosthenes (c.322 B.C.). The greatest writers of the classical era have certain characteristics in common: economy of words, direct expression, subtlety of thought, and attention to form.

Later Greek Literature

The next period of Greek literature reached its zenith in Hellenistic Alexandria, where a number of major philosophers, dramatists, poets, historians, critics, and librarians wrote and taught. New genres such as bucolic poetry emerged during the Hellenistic period, a time also characterized by scholarly editions of classics from earlier periods. The poems of Callimachus Callimachus, fl. c.280–45 B.C., Hellenistic Greek poet and critic, b. Cyrene. Educated at Athens, he taught before obtaining work in the Alexandrian library. There he drew up a catalog, with such copious notes that it constituted a full literary history.
..... Click the link for more information. , the bucolics of Theocritus Theocritus (thēŏk`rĭtəs), fl. c.270 B.C., Hellenistic Greek poet, b. Syracuse.
..... Click the link for more information. , and the epic of Apollonius Rhodius Apollonius Rhodius (ăp'əlō`nēəs rō`dēəs), fl. 3d cent. B.C., epic poet of Alexandria and Rhodes.
..... Click the link for more information. are recognized as major works of world literature.

The production of literary works at the time of the establishment of Roman control of the Mediterranean was enormous, a vast heterogeneous mixture ranging from the sublime to the pedantic and turgid. A great portion of the works produced have been lost. With the Roman political subjugation of Greece, Greek thought and culture, introduced largely by slave-tutors to the Roman aristocracy, came to exert enormous influence in the Roman world. Among the greatest writers of this period were the historians Polybius Polybius (pōlĭ`bēəs), 203? B.C.–c.120 B.C., Greek historian, b. Megalopolis.
..... Click the link for more information. , Josephus Josephus, Flavius (flā`vēəs jōsē`fəs), A.D. 37–c.A.D. 100, Jewish historian and soldier, b. Jerusalem.
..... Click the link for more information. , and Dio Cassius Dio Cassius (Cassius Dio Cocceianus) (dīo kăsh`əs), c.155–235?, Roman historian and administrator, b. Nicaea in Bithynia.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the biographer Plutarch Plutarch (pl`tärk), A.D. 46?–c.A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. ; the philosophers Philo Philo (fī`lō) or Philo Judaeus
..... Click the link for more information. and Dio Chrysostom Dio Chrysostom (dīo krĭs`əstəm, krĭsŏs`–), d. after A.D.
..... Click the link for more information. ; and the novelist Lucian Lucian (l`shən), b. c.120, d.
..... Click the link for more information. . One great Roman work produced under Greek influence was the philosophical meditations of Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius (Marcus Aelius Aurelius Antoninus) (mär`kəs ôrē`lēəs)
..... Click the link for more information. .

With the spread of Christianity, Greek writing took a new turn, and much of the writing of the Greek Fathers of the Church is eloquent. Religion dominated the literature of the Byzantine Empire, and a vast treasury of writing was produced that is not generally well known to the West The most notable exception is the work of some historians (e.g., Procopius Procopius (prōkō`pēəs), d. 565?, Byzantine historian, b. Caesarea in Palestine.
..... Click the link for more information. , Anna Comnena Anna Comnena (än`nə kŏmnē`nə), b. 1083, d.
..... Click the link for more information. , George Acropolita, and Emperor John VI John VI (John Cantacuzene) (kăn'təkyzēn`), c.
..... Click the link for more information. ) and some anthologists (e.g., Photius).

Bibliography

The Loeb Classical Library offers text and translations of most of the extant ancient Greek literature. See T. F. Higham and C. M. Bowra, The Oxford Book of Greek Verse (1938); C. M. Bowra, Ancient Greek Literature (1960); C. M. Bowra, Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides (rev. ed. 1961); H. J. Rose, A Handbook of Greek Literature from Homer to the Age of Lucian (4th ed. 1961); H. D. F. Kitto, Poiesis: Structure and Thought (1966); Cambridge History of Classical Literature; Vol. I (1985); and C. R. Beye, Ancient Greek Literature and Society (1987).