Ancient Greek literature is rich in profound content and diverse in genre, reflecting the unbridled imagination of the Greek ancestors and their creative and pioneering spirit. Whether in terms of ideological content or artistic form, Greek literature serves as a model for later generations of literature and has a profound and long-lasting influence.
Ancient Greek literature can be divided into its early period, its peak period and its decline period. The general time division is as follows: the early period from the 12th century BC to the 8th century BC, the high period from the 8th century BC to the 4th century BC, and the late period from the 4th century BC to the middle of the 2nd century BC, that is, the "Hellenistic period". These three periods correspond to the transition period of Greek society from clan system to slavery, the period of slave-owning democracy and the period of the decline of slavery. The highest achievements of Greek literature are myths, epics and dramas. In addition, there are excellent works and books published in lyric poetry, fables, literary theory and other aspects.
So what factors determine the "source" status of ancient Greek literature? Briefly speaking, there are three factors. The first is the profound ideological content of ancient Greek literature. Ancient Greek literature contains valuable humanistic ideas, attaches great importance to people's worldly life and happiness, values ??people's individual rights and personal dignity, and affirms and praises the beauty of human nature. These are in sharp contrast to the foreign cultures in surrounding areas; secondly, The richness and groundbreaking nature of the art form. With their rich imagination and outstanding creativity, the Greeks developed almost all literary genres, such as myths, epics, tragedies, comedies, novels, fables, poetry, prose, etc., and reached extremely high standards in various genres. level, their creative explorations have accumulated valuable heritage and provided excellent examples for future generations. Finally, the developed literary and artistic thought of ancient Greece also has profound theoretical significance for the development of literature in later generations. Ancient Greek literary and artistic thought was formed on the developed philosophical background of ancient Greece. Outstanding literary theorists such as Aristotle and Plato are also great thinkers themselves. This makes ancient Greek literary and artistic theory more comprehensive in terms of the breadth of generalizations of literary phenomena and the depth of creative theoretical research and systematic logic. They have made outstanding achievements in terms of strength, thus playing a theoretical guiding role in the development of European and American literature in later generations. The tragedy theory, creative method theory and aesthetic concepts they elaborated have become the cornerstones of the development of corresponding disciplines in later generations.
Due to the above influence and role, later European and American literature took ancient Greek literature as a model, absorbed its humanistic ideas, paid attention to its themes and creative principles, and quoted Greek literary materials and characters in large quantities for a long time. Prototypes are recreated. Therefore, Greek literature transcends eras and regions, penetrates into all European literature, and becomes a major source of European and American literature.
The second "Greek" in the two Greek origins refers to Hebrew literature. Early Christianity grew out of Judaism. The classics of Judaism, that is, the cultural classics of the Hebrew nation, were accepted by Christianity and compiled into the "Old Testament". The highest achievement of early Christian literature is the "New Testament", which records the life and legend of Jesus, as well as Christianity Early missionary situations, compilation of religious documents. The New and Old Testaments are collectively called the Bible. Its influence on later generations of European and American culture in terms of philosophical thoughts, social thoughts, and ethical concepts has been extremely profound. From a literary perspective, the Bible contains works in poetry, drama, novels and other genres, which have a significant influence on later European and American literature. It can be seen that early Christian literature represented by the Bible (which incorporated the achievements of Hebrew culture) is another source of European literature.
Both ancient Roman literature and early Christian literature prospered during the decline of Greek literature, and both accepted the influence of Greek literature, thus becoming bridges and "intermediaries."
Ancient Roman literature was produced and developed under the influence of ancient Greek literature. It inherited and developed the content and form of Greek literature, and at the same time had its own historical, regional and clan characteristics. Due to the large-scale conquests and expansion of the Roman Empire, Rome was able to spread Greek literature throughout the Mediterranean. With Roman literature as the intermediary, the ancient Greek literary tradition was inherited and developed in modern European literature.
Early Christian literature was produced from the middle of the 1st century to the end of the 2nd century AD. It is the result of the collision of Greek culture and Hebrew culture. It is not only influenced by Greek literature, but also a source of European and American literature. In this way, it serves as a bridge between ancient Greek literature and modern European and American literature.
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