"Arete"
"Excellence"
(VI.501-506)
MUCH have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne:
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He stared at the Pacific—and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
The Iliad
"That same Homer who pleased in Athens and Rome two thousand years ago, is still admired in Paris and Rome. All the changes of climate, government, religion, and language, have not been able to obscure his glory."
- "On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer"
John Keats
(1795-1821)
George Chapman, poet & translator
David Hume
(1711-1776)
- Of the Standard of Taste
Most influential text in ancient Greek culture
- Academic "Textbook"
- Theology
- History
- Philosophy
- Social ethics
- War, tactics, military engagement
"...this poet educated Greece, and that in the management and education of human affairs it is worthwhile to take him up for study and for living, by arranging one's whole life according to this poet."
Around 1200 BCE, the Mycenean civilization collapses after the Dorians invade...
"Time"
Why Won't Achilles fight?
"Honor"
(IX.127-147)
Historical Context
"Kleos"
Greece is plunged into a "dark age"
"Fame"
(IX.425-430)
Fragmented Culture
The Muse
Gods vs. Men
"Rage, Sing Goddess, Achilles' rage..."
During the Dark Age, Greeks lose the ability write...
Oral Poetry
Literary Art
"The Bronze Age"
"Rage: Sing, Goddess, Achilles' rage, black and murderous..."
Literary Genre
Military Domination
Bronze Tools
Ancient Greece
Achilles
Thriving Economy
Homer
Art & Architecture
The Epic
Written Language
The Iliad was The Avengers of 8th-century Greece
MYCENEA
(2,000 BCE)
A long narrative poem about a hero - or group of heroes - whose actions have national or cosmic significance.
Greeks begin writing down The Iliad in the 8th century BCE after the Phoenicians teach them writing.
Hera
(wife of Zeus)
King Menelaus
Literary Elements
Aphrodite
(goddess of beauty)
Aphrodite
Helen of Greece
Athena
(goddess of wisdom)
The Trojans
"Backstory"
Paris of Troy
King Priam
Zeus
"In Media Res"
When do stories end?
The Greek gods and goddesses are having a party when Eris (goddess of strife) walks in with an apple...
When do stories begin?
What "causes" a story to happen?
Athena
Aphrodite
Prince Paris
Prince Hector
Hera
"To the fairest goddess"
The Epic Simile
King Agamemnon
a comparison
Remember that, in the original Greek, this is poetry.
"Judgment of Paris"
Epithets (fixed descriptions) helped oral storytellers compose lines "on the spot" with a specific rhythm and rhymes.
"My love is like a red, red rose"
Epithets
fixed descriptions
The Iliad
"Hector, breaker of horses"