Literature and The Idea of a Hero
LITERATURE
The Greeks wrote a lot, and even created some new writing forms, like drama and history. Their writing is categorized into types:
The Ancient Greeks thought of the two epics as great literature. The two epics' particular form of language hints that Homer was from the western coast of what is now Turkey. Some Greek legends even depict that Homer was blind, but the visual details in the Iliad and the Odyssey say that he may have once been able to see.
THE IDEA OF A HERO
Greeks loved to tell stories about heroes. The Greeks thought of a hero as someone who descended from the immortal gods and had special abilities and faced terrible monsters. First of all, the ancient Greek hero would be a religious figure, someone deceased who received honors. Even the heroes that were granted immortality first had to die. In return, heroes were expected to bring prosperity, especially in the form of welfare in agriculture. An important thing that defines a Greek hero is that she/he undergo some great ordeal. Even though all heroes descended in some way or another from the gods, all heroes must be mortals, or able to die. So no matter how many immortals there are in a hero's family tree, even a single mortal will make it so that all descendants are mortal.
The Greeks wrote a lot, and even created some new writing forms, like drama and history. Their writing is categorized into types:
- epic --long poems which tell the story of a hero.
- poems --writing in verses and stanzas
- plays -- divided into tragedies and comedies. Tragedies are sad, comedies are funny. Written in verses
- history --record of events
- philosophical dialogues --conversations (dialogue) on philosophical issues, a kind of play
The Ancient Greeks thought of the two epics as great literature. The two epics' particular form of language hints that Homer was from the western coast of what is now Turkey. Some Greek legends even depict that Homer was blind, but the visual details in the Iliad and the Odyssey say that he may have once been able to see.
THE IDEA OF A HERO
Greeks loved to tell stories about heroes. The Greeks thought of a hero as someone who descended from the immortal gods and had special abilities and faced terrible monsters. First of all, the ancient Greek hero would be a religious figure, someone deceased who received honors. Even the heroes that were granted immortality first had to die. In return, heroes were expected to bring prosperity, especially in the form of welfare in agriculture. An important thing that defines a Greek hero is that she/he undergo some great ordeal. Even though all heroes descended in some way or another from the gods, all heroes must be mortals, or able to die. So no matter how many immortals there are in a hero's family tree, even a single mortal will make it so that all descendants are mortal.