HOMERIC OR HEROIC PERIOD ( 1200-800 BCE)

A.What Is Classical Literature?

Classical literature refers to the great masterpieces of Greek, Roman, and

other ancient civilizations. The works of Homer, Ovid, and Sophocles are
all examples of classical literature. The term isn't just limited to novels; it
can also include epic, lyric, tragedy, comedy, pastoral, and other forms of
writing.

Characteristics of Classical Literature.

1. Classical period was based on reason, order and rules

2.Most of the classic Literature's are based on some real life event. For
Example: A Tale of Two Cities- Based on French Revolution. Anna
Karenina, Madam Bovary-Adultery which was slowly growing in Europe
during 19th century.
3.Classic Literature's are not some fancy novels to while away your time.
They offer you some valuable knowledge about family, society and
culture, which are even relevant in today's life.
4.Apart from dealing with the main objective, they also deal with other
issues. In other words it is a complete package. For Example: War and
Peace - Apart from dealing with its central objective, it also deals with
politics, love, religion and social cause.
5.They give a detailed description about the place , surroundings and
characters involved, which in most cases is unwarranted.

Homeric or Heroic Age (1200-800 BCE) Greek legends are passed

along orally, including Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. This is a
chaotic period of warrior-princes, wandering sea-traders, and fierce
pirates.
•This is called the "Homeric" period mainly because of the works by
the Greek poet Homer. They include Iliad and the Odyssey.

WHO IS HOMER?
 He was called the blind poet of Greece. Very little is known about
him, but his transcendent genius is vividly impresses upon his
works. His countrymen called him “ the Poet.”
 He is considered by many to be the earliest and most important of all
the Greek writers, and the progenitor of the whole Western literary
tradition. He was a poetic pioneer who stood at a pivotal point in the
 evolution of Greek society from pre-literate to literate, from a
centuries old bardic tradition of oral verse to the then new technique
of alphabetic writing.
 Nothing definite is known of Homer the historical man, and indeed we
do not know for sure that such a man ever existed. However, of the
many conflicting traditions and legends that have grown up around
him, the most common and most convincing version suggests that
Homer was born at Smyrna in the Ionian region of Asia Minor (or
possibly on the island of Chios), and that he died on the Cycladic
island of Ios.
 Establishing an accurate date for Homer's life also presents
significant difficulties as no documentary record of the man's life is
known to have existed. Indirect reports from Herodotus and others
generally date him approximately between 750 and 700 BCE.
 The characterization of Homer as a blind bard by some historians is
partly due to translations of the Greek "homêros", meaning "hostage"
or "he who is forced to follow", or, in some dialects, "blind". Some
ancient accounts depict Homer as a wandering minstrel, and a
common portrayal is of a blind, begging singer who travelled around
the harbour towns of Greece, associating with shoemakers,
fisherman, potters, sailors and elderly men in the town gathering
places.

Writings

Exactly what Homer was responsible for writing is likewise largely

unsubstantiated. The Greeks of the 6th and early 5th
Centuries BCE tended to use the label “Homer” for the whole body of
early heroic hexameter verse. This included “The Iliad” and “The
Odyssey”, but also the whole “Epic Cycle” of poems relating the story of
the Trojan War (also known as the “Trojan Cycle”), as well as the Theban
poems about Oedipus and other works, such as the “Homeric
Hymns” and the comic mini-epic “Batrachomyomachia” (“The Frog-
Mouse War”).

By around 350 BCE, the consensus had arisen that Homer was
responsible for just the two outstanding epics, “The Iliad” and “The
Odyssey”. Stylistically they are similar, and one view holds that “The
Iliad” was composed by Homer in his maturity, while “The Odyssey” was
a work of his old age. Other parts of the “Epic
Cycle” (e.g. “Kypria”, “Aithiopus”, “Little Iliad”, “The Sack of Ilion”, “The
Returns” and “Telegony”) are now considered to be almost certainly not
by Homer. The “Homeric Hymns” and “Epigrams of Homer”, despite the
names, were likewise almost certainly written significantly later, and
therefore not by Homer himself.
 Some maintain that the Homeric poems are dependent on an oral
tradition, a generations-old technique that was the collective
inheritance of many singer-poets. The Greek alphabet was introduced
(adapted from a Phoenician syllabary) in the early 8th Century BCE,
so it is possible that Homer himself (if indeed he was a single, real
person) was one of the first generation of authors who were also
literate. At any rate, it seems likely that Homer's poems were recorded
shortly after the invention of the Greek alphabet, and third-party
references to “The Iliad” appear as early as about 740 BCE.
 The language used by Homer is an archaic version of Ionic Greek,
with admixtures from certain other dialects such as Aeolic Greek. It
later served as the basis of Epic Greek, the language of epic poetry,
typically written in dactylic hexameter verse.
 In the Hellenistic period, Homer appears to have been the subject of a
hero cult in several cities, and there is evidence of a shrine devoted to
him in Alexandria by Ptolemy IV Philopator in the late 3rd
Century BCE.

TWO MAJOR WORKS OF HOMER

 The Iliad and the Odyssey depict the complete life of the Ancient
Greeks in action.
 Iliad-shows us the passions and the cruelty found in war
-is a story of love and heroism
 Odyssey-shows us great adventures
 Theme of Iliad and Odyssey- the affirmation of the truth that
one’s fate is the result of one’s actions. Ill fate is results from
ignorance and unguided and immoderate passions. The deities
give only what a person asks for; one’s destiny is largely a matter
of one’s own making

WHO IS HESIOD?

Hesiod, Greek Hesiodos, Latin Hesiodus, (flourished c. 700 BC), one of

the earliest Greek poets, often called the “father of Greek didactic poetry.”
Two of his complete epics have survived, the Theogony,relating
the myths of the gods, and the Works and Days, describing peasant life.

.
 THE ILIAD -HOMER

(Epic Poem, Greek, c. 750 BCE, 15,693 lines)

“The Iliad” (Gr: “Iliás”) is an epic poem by the ancient Greek poet
Homer, which recounts some of the significant events of the final weeks
of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy (which was also
known as Ilion, Ilios or Ilium in ancient times). Written in the mid-8th
Century BCE, “The Iliad” is usually considered to be the earliest work in
the whole Western literary tradition, and one of the best known and loved
stories of all time. Through its portayal of the epic subject matter of the
Trojan War, the stirring scenes of bloody battle, the wrath of Achilles and
the constant interventions of the gods, it explores themes of glory, wrath,
homecoming and fate, and has provided subjects and stories for many
other later Greek, Roman and Renaissance writings.

Synopsis

The story covered by “The Iliad” begins nearly ten years into the
seige of Troy by the Greek forces, led by Agamemnon, King of Mycenae.
The Greeks are quarrelling about whether or not to return Chryseis, a
Trojan captive of King Agamemnon, to her father, Chryses, a priest of
Apollo. When Agamemnon refuses and threatens to ransom the girl to
her father, the offended Apollo plagues them with a pestilence.

The Greeks, at the behest of the warrior-hero Achilles, force

Agamemnon to return Chryseis in order to appease Apollo and end the
pestilence. But, when Agamemnon eventually reluctantly agrees to give
her back, he takes in her stead Briseis, Achilles’s own war-prize
concubine. Feeling dishonoured, Achilles wrathfully withdraws both
himself and his Myrmidon warriors from the Trojan War.

Testing the resolve of the Greeks, Agamemnon feigns a homeward

order, but Odysseus encourages the Greeks to pursue the fight. During a
brief truce in the hostilities, Paris and Menelaus meet in single combat
over Helen, while she and old King Priam of Troy watch from the city
walls and, despite the goddess Aphrodite’s intervention on behalf of the
over-matched Paris, Menelaus is the victor. The goddess Athena,
however, who favours the Greeks, soon provokes a Trojan truce-breaking
and battle begins anew.

The Greek hero Diomedes, strengthened by Athena, drives the

Trojans before him but, in his arrogance and blood-lust, strikes and
injures Aphrodite. Despite the misgivings of his wife, Andromache, the
Trojan hero, Hector, son of King Priam, challenges the Greek warrior-
hero Ajax to single combat, and is almost overcome in battle. Throughout
all, in the background, the various gods and goddesses (particularly
Hera, Athena, Apollo and Poseidon) continue to argue among themselves
and to manipulate and intervene in the struggle, despite Zeus’ specific
orders to the contrary.

Achilles steadfastly refuses to give in to pleas for help from

Agamemnon, Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix and Nestor, spurning the offered
honours and riches and even Agamemnon’s belated offer to return
Briseis to him. Diomedes and Odysseus sneak into the Trojan camp and
wreak havoc. But, with Achilles and his warriors out of battle, the tide
appears to begin to turn in favour of the Trojans. Agamemnon is
wounded in the battle and, despite the heroics of Ajax, Hector
successfully breaches the fortified Greek camp, wounding Odysseus and
Diomedes in the process, and threatens to set the Greek ships on fire.

Torn between his allegiances, Achilles orders his friend and lover,
Patroclus, to dress in Achilles’ own armour and to lead the Myrmidons in
repelling the Trojans. Intoxicated by his success, Patroclus forgets
Achilles’ warning, and pursues the fleeing Trojans to the walls of Troy
and would have taken the city were it not for the actions of Apollo. In the
heat of the battle, though, Hector finds the disguised Patroclus and,
thinking him to be Achilles, fights and (again with Apollo’s help) kills
him. Menelaus and the Greeks manage to recover Patroclus’s corpse
before Hector can inflict more damage.

Distraught at the death of his companion, Achilles then reconciles

with Agamemnon and rejoins the fray, despite knowing his deadly fate,
and drives all the Trojans before him in his fury. As the ten year war
reaches its climax, even the gods join in the battle and the earth shakes
with the clamour of the combat.

Clad in new armour fashioned specially for him by Hephaestus,

Achilles takes revenge for his friend Patroclus by slaying Hector in single
combat, but then defiles and desecrates his corpse for several days. Now,
at last, Patroclus’ funeral can be celebrated in what Achilles sees as a
fitting manner. Hector’s father, King Priam, emboldened by his grief and
aided by Hermes, recovers Hector’s corpse from Achilles, and “The Iliad”
ends with Hector’s funeral during a twelve day truce granted by Achilles.

Analysis
 Although attributed to Homer, "The Iliad" is clearly dependent on
an older oral tradition and may well have been the collective inheritance
of many singer-poets over a long period of time (the historical Fall of Troy
is usually dated to around the start of the 12th Century BCE). Homer
was probably one of the first generation of authors who were also literate,
as the Greek alphabet was introduced in the early 8th Century BCE, and
the language used in his epic poems is an archaic version of Ionic Greek,
with admixtures from certain other dialects such as Aeolic Greek.
However, it is by no means certain that Homer himself (if in fact such a
man ever really existed) actually wrote down the verses.

“The Iliad” was part of a group of ancient poems known as the

"Epic Cycle", most of which are now lost to us, which dealt with the
history of the Trojan War and the events surrounding it. Whether or not
they were written down, we do know that Homer's poems (along with
others in the “Epic Cycle”) were recited in later days at festivals and
ceremonial occasions by professional singers called "rhapsodes", who
beat out the measure with rhythm staffs.

“The Iliad” itself does not cover the early events of the Trojan War,
which had been launched ten years before the events described in the
poem in order to rescue Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, after
her abduction by the Trojan prince, Paris. Likewise, the death of Achilles
and the eventual fall of Troy are not covered in the poem, and these
matters are the subjects of other (non-Homeric) "Epic Cycle" poems,
which survive only in fragments. “The Odyssey”, a separate work also by
Homer, narrates Odysseus’ decade-long journey home to Ithaca after the
end of the Trojan War.

The poem consists of twenty-four scrolls, containing 15,693 lines

of dactylic hexameter verse. The entire poem has a formal rhythm that is
consistent throughout (making it easier to memorize) and yet varied
slightly from line to line (preventing it from being monotonous). Many
phrases, sometimes whole passages, are repeated verbatim over and over
again throughout “The Iliad”, partly to fulfill the demands of the metre
and partly as part of the formulaic oral tradition. In the same way, many
of the descriptive phrases that are linked with a certain character (such
as "swift-footed Achilles", "Diomedes of the great war cry", "Hector of the
shining helm", and "Agamemnon the lord of men") match the number of
syllables in a hero's name, and are repeated regularly to the extent that
they almost seem to become part of the characters' names themselves.

The immortal gods and goddesses are portrayed as characters in

“The Iliad”, displaying individuality and will in their actions, but they are
also stock religious figures, sometimes allegorical, sometimes
psychological, and their relation to humans is extremely complex. They
are often used as a way of explaining how or why an event took place,
but they are also sometimes used as comic relief from the war,
mimicking, parodying and mocking mortals. Indeed, it is often the gods,
not the mortals, who seem casual, petty and small-minded.

The main theme of the poem is that of war and peace, and the
whole poem is essentially a description of war and fighting. There is a
sense of horror and futility built into Homer's chronicle, and yet, posed
against the viciousness, there is a sense of heroism and glory that adds a
glamour to the fighting: Homer appears both to abhor war and to glorify
it. Frequent similes tell of the peacetime efforts back home in Greece,
and serve as contrasts to the war, reminding us of the human values
that are destroyed by fighting, as well as what is worth fighting for.

The concept of heroism, and the honour that results from it, is also
one of the major currents running through the poem. Achilles in
particular represents the heroic code and his struggle revolves around
his belief in an honour system, as opposed to Agamemnon's reliance on
royal privilege. But, as fighter after heroic fighter enters the fray in
search of honour and is slain before our eyes, the question always
remains as to whether their struggle, heroic or not, is really worth the
sacrifice.

“Menin” or “menis” (“anger” or “wrath”) is the word that opens “The

Iliad”, and one of the major themes of the poem is Achilles coming to
terms with his anger and taking responsibility for his actions and
emotions.

THE ODYSSEY-HOMER

(Epic Poem, Greek, c. 725 BCE, 12,110 lines)

“The Odyssey” (Gr: “Odysseia”) is the second of the two epic

poems attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer (the first being “The
Iliad”), and usually considered the second extant work of Western
literature. It was probably composed near the end of the 8th
Century BCE and is, in part, a sequel to “The Iliad”. It is widely
recognized as one of the great stories of all time, and has been a strong
influence on later European, especially Renaissance, literature. The
poem focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known
in Roman myths) and his long journey home to Ithaca following the fall of
Troy. His adventure-filled ten year journey took him through the Ionian
Islands and the Peloponnese and as far away as Egypt and North Africa
and the western Mediteranean, as the displeased sea-god Poseidon
prevented him from reaching his home.
Synopsis

Ten years after the Fall of Troy, and twenty years after the Greek
hero Odysseus first set out from his home in Ithaca to fight with the
other Greeks against the Trojans, Odysseus’ son Telemachus and his
wife Penelope are beset with over a hundred suitors who are trying to
persuade Penelope that her husband is dead and that she should marry
one of them.

Encouraged by the goddess Athena (always Odysseus’

protector), Telemachus sets out to look for his father, visiting some
of Odysseus’ erstwhile companions such as Nestor, Menelaus and Helen,
who have long since arrived home. They receive him sumptuously and
recount the ending of the Trojan War, including the story of the wooden
horse. Menelaus tells Telemachus that he has heard that Odysseus is
being held captive by the nymph Calypso.

The scene then changes to Calypso's island, where Odysseus has

spent seven years in captivity. Calypso is finally persuaded to release
him by Hermes and Zeus, but Odysseus’ makeshift boat is wrecked by
his nemesis Poseidon, and he swims ashore onto an island. He is found
by the young Nausicaa and her handmaidens and is made welcome by
King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, and begins to tell the
amazing story of his return from Troy.

Odysseus tells how he and his twelve ships were driven off course
by storms, and how they visited the lethargic Lotus-Eaters with their
memory-erasing food, before being captured by the giant one-eyed
cyclops Polyphemus (Poseidon’s son), only escaping after he blinded the
giant with a wooden stake. Despite the help of Aeolus, King of the
Winds, Odysseus and his crew were blown off course again just as home
was almost in sight. They narrowly escaped from the cannibal
Laestrygones, only to encounter the witch-goddess Circe soon
after. Circe turned half of his men into swine, but Odysseus had been
pre-warned by Hermes and made resistant to Circe’s magic.

After a year of feasting and drinking on Circe’s island, the Greeks

again set off, reaching the western edge of the world. Odysseus made a
sacrifice to the dead and summoned the spirit of the old
prophet Tiresias to advise him, as well as the spirits of several other
famous men and women and that of his own mother, who had died of
grief at his long absence and who gave him disturbing news of the
situation in his own household.

Advised once more by Circe on the remaining stages of their journey,

they skirted the land of the Sirens, passed between the many-headed
monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, and, blithely ignoring the
warnings of Tiresias and Circe, hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun
god Helios. For this sacrilege, they were punished by a shipwreck in
which all but Odysseus himself drowned. He was washed ashore on
Calypso’s island, where she compelled him to remain as her lover.

By this point, Homer has brought us up to date, and the

remainder of the story is told straightforwardly in chronological order.

Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians

agree to help Odysseus get home, and they finally deliver him one night
to a hidden harbour on his home island of Ithaca. Disguised as a
wandering beggar and telling a fictitious tale of himself, Odysseus learns
from a local swineherd how things stand in his household. Through
Athena’s machinations, he meets up with his own son, Telemachus, just
returning from Sparta, and they agree together that the insolent and
increasingly impatient suitors must be killed. With more help from
Athena, an archery competition is arranged by Penelope for the suitors,
which the disguised Odysseus easily wins, and he then promptly
slaughters all the other suitors.

Only now does Odysseus reveal and prove his true identity to his
wife and to his old father, Laertes. Despite the fact that Odysseus has
effectively killed two generations of the men of Ithaca (the shipwrecked
sailors and the executed suitors), Athena intervenes one last time and
finally Ithaca is at peace once more.

Analysis

Like “The Iliad”, “The Odyssey” is attributed to the Greek epic

poet Homer, although it was probably written later than “The Iliad”,
in Homer’s mature years, possibly around 725 BCE. Also like “The Iliad”,
it was clearly composed in an oral tradition, and was probably intended
more to be sung than read, probably accompanied by a simple stringed
instrument which was strummed for an occasional rhythmic accent. It is
written in Homeric Greek (an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with
admixtures from certain other dialects such as Aeolic Greek), and
comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter verse, usually divided up
into 24 books.

Many copies of the poem have come down to us (for example, a

survey of all surviving Egyptian papyri carried out in 1963 found that
nearly half of the 1,596 individual "books" were copies of “The
Iliad” or “The Odyssey” or commentaries on them). There are interesting
parallels between many of the elements of “The Odyssey” and the much
older Sumerian legends in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”. Today, the word
“odyssey” has come to be used in the English language to refer to any
epic voyage or extended wandering.

As in “The Iliad”, Homer makes frequent use of "epithets" in “The

Odyssey”, descriptive tags used regularly to fill out a line of verse as well
as to provide detail about character, such as Odysseus “the raider of
cities” and Menelaus “the red-haired captain”. The epithets, as well as
repeated background stories and longer epic similes, are common
techniques in the oral tradition, designed to make the job of the singer-
poet a little easier, as well as to remind the audience of important
background information.

Compared to “The Iliad”, the poem has many changes of scene and
a much more complex plot. It employs the seemingly modern idea (later
imitated by many other authors of literary epics) of starting the plot at
what is chronologically towards the end of the overall story, and
describing prior events through flashbacks or storytelling. This is
appropriate, however, as Homer was elaborating on a story which would
have been very familiar to his listeners, and there was little likelihood of
his audience being confused, despite the numerous sub-plots.

The character of Odysseus embodies many of the ideals the

ancient Greeks aspired to: manly valour, loyalty, piety and intelligence.
His intelligence is a mix of keen observation, instinct and street smarts,
and he is a fast, inventive liar, but also extremely cautious. However, he
is also portrayed as very human - he makes mistakes, gets into tricky
situations, loses his temper and is often moved to tears - and we see him
in many roles (as a husband, father and son, but also as an athlete,
army captain, sailor, carpenter, storyteller, ragged beggar, lover, etc).

The other characters are very much secondary,

although Odysseus’ son Telemachus shows some growth and
development from a passive, untested boy to a man of valour and action,
respectful to gods and men, and loyal to his mother and father. The first
four books of “The Odyssey” are often referred to as “The Telemachy” as
they follow Telemachus’ own journey.

Among the themes explored by “The Odyssey” are those of

homecoming, vengeance, the restoration of order, hospitality, respect for
the gods, order and fate, and, perhaps most importantly, loyalty
(Odysseus’ loyalty in persisting in his attempts to return home, even after
twenty years, Telemachus’ loyalty, Penelope’s loyalty and the loyalty of
the servants Eurykleia and Eumaios).
 REFERENCES:

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);

P. E. Easterling and B. M. W. Knox, ed., Cambridge History of Classical

Literature, Vol. I (1985);

C. R. Beye, Ancient Greek Literature and Society(1987); R. Scodel, An

Introduction to Greek Tragedy (2010).

J.B. Serrano and M.G.Lapid, English Communication Arts and Skills

through World literature(5th ed. 2001)

https://www.ancient-literature.com/authors.html

English translation by Samuel Butler (The Internet Classics Archive):

http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html