Ancient Greek literature

Ancient Greek literature is the collection of stories, poems, and ideas written in the Ancient Greek language from very early times up until the Byzantine Empire. The oldest pieces we still have today are two big poems called the Iliad and the Odyssey. These tales talk about brave heroes and their adventures, and they helped start a rich tradition of writing that lasted for many years.

Many famous writers came later, like Sappho, who wrote beautiful poems, and Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, who told powerful stories through their plays. There were also funny plays by Aristophanes and serious history books by Herodotus of Halicarnassus and Thucydides. Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle wrote about life and knowledge in conversations called dialogues.

Later writers such as Apollonius of Rhodes, who wrote about a famous journey, and Plutarch, who told stories about important people, added more to this wonderful collection. Ancient Greek writing influenced many other cultures, especially the ancient Roman authors, and it continues to inspire writers today, from Dante Alighieri to William Shakespeare.

History

The earliest Greek writings come from the Mycenaean time, made on clay tablets using a special writing system called Linear B. These tablets mostly show trade details like lists and receipts, not stories. Experts believe that Mycenaean Greece may have had literature, but it was not written down or was on materials that did not survive.

During the Hellenistic period, after Alexander the Great expanded his empire, the city of Alexandria in Egypt became the center of Greek culture instead of Athens. A famous place called the Musaeum was built there, which included a big library and a school. The library aimed to collect every important Greek book it could find, holding over half a million books in Greek.

Under Roman rule, Greek writing continued to grow. Romans who loved literature often used Greek works as examples. Greek books were still read and written by both Greek speakers and Roman authors. This time also saw more writing about how to judge and talk about literature.

Poetry

Early epic poetry

The earliest and most important works of ancient Greek literature are two big poems called the Iliad and the Odyssey. These poems tell stories from long ago, with the Iliad focusing on a part of the Trojan War and the hero Achilles. The Odyssey follows the journey of Odysseus, who spends many years trying to return home after the war.

Another important poet was Hesiod, who wrote about everyday life and the gods. His poems, Works and Days and Theogony, talk about how people should live and how the world and the gods began.

Elegy and iambus

Elegiac poetry and iambic poetry were written in a special way, with elegies using a certain pair of lines and iambs using another rhythm. One famous iambic poet was Archilochus of Paros, known for his adventurous and sometimes tough life.

Lyric poetry

Main article: Greek lyric

Lyric poetry was music and poetry together, often sung with a lyre. The most famous lyric poets were called the "Nine Lyric Poets." One of the most famous was Sappho, who wrote beautiful poems that were highly respected in ancient times.

Other notable lyric poets included Alcman, who wrote in a different style, and Pindar, known for his group songs.

Hellenistic poetry

Later poets like Theocritus started a style called bucolic poetry, which the Roman poet Virgil also used. Callimachus wrote long poems about the origins of traditions and also shorter poems for special events.

Apollonius of Rhodes wrote an epic about Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece. Aratus wrote a poem about the stars based on older work.

Late Antique epic poetry

Later poets continued writing epic stories. Quintus of Smyrna wrote about what happened after the Iliad ended. Another poet wrote about battles between Romans and a faraway people. Nonnus wrote a very long epic and also a poem based on an important religious story.

Drama

All surviving Greek dramas were written by playwrights from Athens and are written in the Attic dialect. Choral performances were a common tradition in Greek city-states. The people of Athens said a man named Thespis invented drama by adding the first actor, who talked with the leader of the chorus. Later playwrights added more actors, which let them tell more kinds of stories.

Tragedy

After the Greco-Persian Wars, the people of Athens showed their spirit through hundreds of tragedies. These plays told stories about heroes and legends from the past. They began as simple songs and dialogues at festivals for the god Dionysus. In the classical period, people watched three tragedies and one pastoral drama, all telling parts of the same story. Rich citizens helped pay for costumes and training the chorus as a special duty. Going to these shows was like a worship service. The plays were performed in a big open-air theater in Athens, and poets competed for prizes for the best plays.

All the Greek tragedies that still exist are said to be by Aeschylus, Sophocles, or Euripides. There are seven tragedies said to be by Aeschylus, three of which are called the Oresteia. Seven works survive from Sophocles, with three famous ones about Oedipus: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. Nineteen plays are said to be by Euripides, with well-known ones like Medea, Hippolytus, and Bacchae. Euripides often did things in his plays that were more like comedy than tragedy.

Comedy

Comedy also began as a ritual for Dionysus, but these plays were full of jokes, rude words, and insults. In Athens, comedies became part of the festival in 486 BC, and prizes were given for the best ones. Only a few works from the great comedic writers remain.

Old Comedy

The only complete surviving old comedies are eleven plays by Aristophanes. Aristophanes made fun of everyone and everything. In The Birds, he made fun of Athenian democracy. In The Clouds, he made fun of the philosopher Socrates. In Lysistrata, he spoke out against war. In The Frogs, he made fun of the tragedians Aeschylus and Euripides.

New Comedy

During the Hellenistic period, Old Comedy was replaced by New Comedy. The most famous writer of New Comedy was Menander. None of Menander’s plays fully survive today, but part of one called The Bad-Tempered Man has survived, along with pieces of a few others.

Satyr plays

The third kind of drama was the satyr play. Only one complete satyr play remains: Cyclops by Euripides. Parts of another satyr play, Ichneutae by Sophocles, were found in Egypt among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

Historiography

Main article: Hellenic historiography

The story of ancient history writing began with Herodotus, whose book The Histories is one of the oldest examples of writing that is not poetry.

Another important writer, Thucydides, wrote History of the Peloponnesian War. His work influenced many later writers and historians, including the author of the book of Acts of the Apostles and the Byzantine Era historian Procopius of Caesarea.

Xenophon of Athens continued where Thucydides left off. His book The Anabasis tells about his time with a Greek army helping a Persian prince try to take the throne.

Polybius was born around 200 BC. He was taken to Rome as a guest but became friends with important leaders there. He wrote about wars, including those against Carthage.

Diodorus Siculus wrote a big history book called Bibliotheca Historica. Only some parts of it remain today.

Plutarch wrote Parallel Lives, which tells about famous people from the past. He also wrote Moralia, a collection of essays on many topics.

Philosophy

Among the earliest Greek thinkers were three known as the Milesian philosophers: Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Only a small piece of Anaximander’s writing has survived.

Many important thinkers lived in the fifth century BC. We still have much of the poem On Nature by Empedocles of Acragas. We also have pieces of writing from Heraclitus of Ephesus and Democritus of Abdera.

Of all the thinkers whose work we still have, Plato and Aristotle are thought to be the most important.

Plato shared his ideas through conversations called Socratic dialogues. Some of his well-known works include The Apology of Socrates, Phaedo, The Symposium, and The Republic.

Aristotle was a student of Plato. He later started his own school in Athens called the Lyceum. His writings cover many subjects, such as logic, science, ethics, and government. Some of his famous works are Politics, Nicomachean Ethics, Poetics, On the Soul, and Rhetoric.

Plotinus took Plato’s ideas and created a new school called Neoplatonism. His work, the Enneads, influenced European thinking for many years. Plotinus focused on ideas like nous, psyche, and the "One".

Prose fiction

The Roman Period was when most of the surviving Greek stories were written. One famous book, The Milesiaka by Aristides of Miletos, was probably written around the second century BC. Though we don’t have the whole book today, we know about it from other writings. It started a new kind of story called "Milesian tales".

Many famous Greek novels were written between the late first century BC and the second century AD. These include Chaereas and Callirhoe by Chariton and Metiochus and Parthenope. Another well-known story is Daphnis and Chloe by Longus, which tells a lovely tale about two young lovers growing up together on the island of Lesbos. Other novels from this time include Leucippe and Clitophon by Achilles Tatius and The Ephesian Tale by Xenophon of Ephesus.

The writer Lucian of Samosata lived in the late second century AD. He wrote many popular stories, including A True Story, which some think might be one of the earliest examples of science fiction. His book The Syrian Goddess was written in an older style of Greek to copy the way Herodotus wrote.

In the third century AD, The Aethiopica by Heliodorus of Emesa told the adventures of a young Ethiopian princess named Chariclea. Another very popular story was the Alexander Romance, a fictionalized account of Alexander the Great. This story was so well-loved that it was told in many different languages and became very famous throughout the Middle Ages.

Science and mathematics

Further information: Greek mathematics, Greek astronomy, and Medicine in ancient Greece

Eratosthenes of Alexandria (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC) studied astronomy and geography and was the first person known to measure the size of the Earth. Many works by famous mathematicians like Euclid and Archimedes have been kept safe over time. Euclid wrote Elements, a very important book in math. Archimedes wrote several books including Measurement of the Circle, where he figured out the value of pi.

The doctor Galen lived in the 2nd century AD and studied how the body works. His ideas about medicine were important for over 1,400 years. Strabo, who died around AD 23, wrote about geography and history, but most of his work is lost. However, his book Geographical Sketches remains, describing many places known to the Greeks and Romans up to the time of Augustus. Another writer, Pausanias, also from the 2nd century AD, created a travel guide called Description of Greece, showing the lands and stories of Greece from Athens to Naupactus.

The most influential scientist from the Roman period was Ptolemy, who lived in the 2nd century AD. His famous book, now called Almagest, described a universe where the Earth was at the center. This idea was used for over 1,300 years until scientists like Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler showed that the sun, not the Earth, was at the center — a view known as heliocentrism.

Christian literature

The New Testament, written by different authors in a form of Greek called Koine Greek, comes from this time. The most important parts are the Gospels and the Epistles of Saint Paul.

Early Christian thinkers like Justin Martyr and Origen of Alexandria used ideas from Greek philosophy, especially from Platonism, in their work.

Legacy

Ancient Greek literature has greatly influenced writers all over the world. Writers from ancient Rome often used ideas and styles from Greek stories in their own work. For example, the Roman poet Vergil used the famous Greek stories the Iliad and the Odyssey as models for his own epic poem, the Aeneid.

During the Middle Ages, many people in Western Europe had forgotten about Greek literature. It was not until the Renaissance that scholars began to rediscover and study these ancient writings again. Since then, Greek literature has continued to inspire writers. Many famous books and plays, like Paradise Lost by John Milton and Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift, show the lasting influence of ancient Greek stories. Even today, Greek myths and ideas are still used by writers around the world.

Papyrus evidence

Papyri are old pieces of paper that help us learn about ancient books. Most papyri are everyday documents like letters and receipts, not books. Only about 10% of papyri found at Oxyrhynchus are literary texts.

Homer's works are the most common books found on papyri. About 40% of all surviving literary papyri are pieces of Homer's poems. In a study from 1968, Homer's works had 657 pieces, far more than other writers like Demosthenes, Euripides, and Hesiod. Even today, Homer still has the most pieces found.

Ancient Greek tragedies are also found on papyri, but most are only in small pieces. Only 32 full tragedies have survived, and they were written by just three authors: Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles.