Greek Epic Literature

• Click here for a power point that Mrs. Stowe arranged to help us appreciate ancient Greek history as we begin Homer's epic. Here's a link for a ancient Greek history timeline: http://library.thinkquest.org/10805/timeframe-g.html
• Definition of an epic: An epic is the story of a civilization's values and meaning.An epic is a long narrative,
  usually told in poetic form and with set conventions, that has heroes who embody the values of that civilization and who engage in massive conflicts, often battles, that reflect the issues of that civilization. The actions of the heroes are significant not only because they profoundly affect their people, but also because they reveal meaning in life and death.

• Epic conventions: As you read, try to glean epic conventions: here's a good link of epic conventions: http://english.tjc.edu/greekromanepic/conventions.htm
• Be mindful of important cultural rituals, such as hospitality, that lend a better understanding to the story and the characters' development.
• Humanism: It is one thing to define (enjoy the roots of define= de=about, around, fin=line; therefore, to put a intellectual terms around an idea.); it is another thing to try to find great poetic samples to illuminate meaning on such a deep and powerful term for ancient culture. Why are the following passages of Greek literature good examples of Greek Humanism?

Pindar, Pythian Odes: Pythian 8, from the Perseus page at Tufts University.

[epode 5]
[line 95] Creatures of a day. What is someone? What is no one? Man is the dream of a shadow. But when the brilliance given by Zeus comes, a shining light is on man, and a gentle lifetime. Dear mother Aegina, convey this city on her voyage of freedom, with the blessing of Zeus, and the ruler Aeacus, [line 100] and Peleus, and good Telamon, and Achilles.

Click here for a link to commentary notes from the Perseus page to read a famous passage from Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes; number 8, line 95 which is a part of Epode 5.

QUOTATION: Man is the measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.

ATTRIBUTION: Protagoras (c. 481–411 B.C.), Greek sophist. Fragment cited by Plato, p. 60, Philosophers Speak for Themselves, T.V. Smith, University of Chicago Press, Chicago (1934). Found on bartleby.com

The Encyclopedia of Philosophy generally defines humanism as a "philosophy which recognizes the value and dignity of man and makes him the measure of all things or somehow takes human nature, its limits, or its interests as its theme."

Homer