Homer's epics "Ilion Ji" and "Ode to Xiuji Ji", handed down from the 8th century to the 9th century BC, have been regarded as models of epics for centuries after continuous processing and improvement by professional musicians.
Ancient Greek drama was developed on the basis of music and dance in the game of welcoming the gods. Aeschylus is the "father of tragedy", and his seven works have been handed down to this day, including Theia Trilogy and Prometheus Bound. Another Greek writer Sophocles developed the form of tragedy. Among the seven existing plays, antigone and Oedipus the King are the most outstanding. Euripides further perfected the art of tragedy, and 18 plays were preserved, among which the important ones were The Woman of Troy and Medea. The Greek "father of comedy" is aristophanes, who has 1 1 plays. The important literary theory works are Plato's Dialogues and Aristotle's Poetics.
Ancient Greek literature had a great influence on ancient Roman literature and later European literature. The period from 334 BC to 323 BC was Hellenistic, and Greek literature influenced the whole Eastern Mediterranean and many areas in West Asia and Central Asia. The narrative poem Huckale by Calimarcos, the epic Hero of Argo by Apollonius, and the literary criticism works about Sublime and Aesop's Fables are all important works in this period. In the 4th-65438+5th century, during the Eastern Roman Empire with Byzantium as the center, a large number of works were left, but the influence was not great. 15-/kloc-during the occupation of Greece by Turks in the 0/8th century, there was no great achievement in literature. 1828 After Greece's independence, there appeared the Athenian Romantic Poetry School represented by Suzos and the Ionian Poetry School represented by SoRomos. There are many memoirs of prose; Psyche Harris became the leader of the oral literature movement. /kloc-in the 1980s, a new Athenian school, which was inclined to oral literature and oriented to real life, emerged in the field of poetry, and prose turned to novels reflecting reality. After the First World War, the symbolist poet Severus and the surrealist poet Eritis successively won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Famous novelists include Mirivilis, Winnigues, Cosmas Polites and Theodore Cass.
Ancient Greek mythology
Ancient Greek mythology originated from the childhood of human society. The social life in primitive clan period and people's thinking mode and cognitive ability at that time were the soil and conditions for breeding myths. The unpredictable nature is not only the mother who nurtures human beings, but also the greatest enemy of prehistoric human beings with low productivity. When human beings gradually walk out of nature and their own consciousness begins to wake up, a simple understanding of the external living environment, human beings themselves and their relationship will inevitably lead to myths that future generations cannot imitate. In ancient times, all ethnic groups in the world had their own myths, but judging from the myths of all ethnic groups that have been passed down to this day, Greek myths are undoubtedly the most colorful.
Written Greek mythology was first seen in Homer's epic. Later, the poet hesiod's long poem "Divine Spectrum" first described the origin of the universe and the genealogy of the gods, which became the foundation of later Greek mythology works. Since then, we can also see descriptions of myths in ancient Greek poetry, drama, philosophy and historical works. The Greek fairy tales we see today were compiled by later generations on the basis of the above records.
Greek mythology includes stories of gods and legends of heroes.
The story of God is about creation, the birth of God, the pedigree of God and the birth of man.
The legend of heroes's protagonist is a demigod hero, which originates from the ancient concept of ancestor worship. The legend of heroes, with certain historical authenticity, is a tribute to clan leaders and ancestors, but it is also the product of later generations' imagination.
Myth and religious belief are closely linked. The religion of ancient Greece is polytheism, which occupies a very important position in the life of every city-state. All Greek citizens are devout believers. However, unlike other ethnic groups, especially the eastern ethnic groups, there are no privileged priests in the Greek world. The status of male and female priests in the temple is equivalent to the public servants of the polis, and the management of the temple is in the hands of the citizen groups designated by the polis. Therefore, under the unique conditions of the Greek city-state, the Greek religious concept, which originated from ancient folk beliefs, has different characteristics from other nationalities, and also makes Greek mythology have its own distinctive characteristics, among which the core position is the "similarity between God and man". This concept not only made Greek mythology get rid of the stage of beast-shaped demon spirit earlier, but also made the myth reflect strong democratic consciousness and people-oriented realistic spirit. The gods in Greek religion are neither monopolized by kings or city-state rulers, nor revered by people, but belong to all citizens of the whole Greek world and live among the people. There is a connection between divinity and humanity, not an insurmountable boundary.
Reflected in myth, God has the form of male and female, but it is also the perfect embodiment of human beings. The image of God embodies the highest level of human wisdom and beauty, but on the other hand, God also has the same secular desires as human beings. They are also vain, jealous, romantic and selfish. For example, Zeus, as the king of the gods, often falls to earth to have an affair with beautiful women, and the gods do not hesitate to start wars for a little thing, unfairly favoring people they like, and so on.
The Greeks believe in the concept of fate, which is also reflected in the myth, but the myth also shows that they are not slaves crawling at the foot of fate, but a nation that cherishes personal honor, emphasizes human struggle, loves secular life, is proactive and advocates heroic integrity. Greek mythology is a people-centered myth, which highlights the human spirit and echoes the optimistic and healthy reality. Greek mythology had a lasting influence on later Greek literature. Therefore, Marx once said: "Greek mythology is not only a treasure house of Greek art, but also its soil."
Greek theatre
Ancient Greek drama originated from Dionysian sacrifice.
In the middle of the 6th century, the rapid development of industry and commerce and the expansion of foreign trade in Athens stimulated the development of agricultural production. Song and dance performances and commemorative performances popular in rural areas to celebrate harvest and worship Dionysus and Saturnalia have entered cities, and these festivals have also become national festivals. At this time, the social life in Athens became more and more complicated and the political life became more and more active. These simple singing and dancing performances can't fully express people's thoughts and feelings, so they gradually evolved into drama. The predecessor of tragedy is Dionysian ode, and the predecessor of comedy is folk song and dance and burlesque.
During the reign of Pericles (495-429 BC), the democratic atmosphere was the strongest, and the state built large theaters, distributed theater subsidies and organized drama competitions. Drama has become a kind of literary activity used by democratic regime to realize political, moral and educational tasks, and drama performance has become an indispensable part of Athens citizens' political and cultural life. Therefore, the ancient Greek drama is the product of the slave-owner democracy in Athens. It develops with the development of democracy and declines with the decline of democracy. It also reflects the life and struggle of the slave owners' Democrats and expresses their wishes and demands.
Greek tragedies are mostly based on myths, and their contents often contain the concept of fate or other superstitions. But it reflects the life and struggle of contemporary society. Whether it is the struggle between God and God or the struggle between man and God, it is actually a reflection of the struggle between people in reality. The tragedy focuses on the hero's heroic behavior. The image is tall and majestic. Generally speaking, there is no pessimism, but it fully shows the pride of the slave owners' Democrats.
Tragedy inherits the tradition of epic and lyric poetry in art, and the dramatic component and lyric component become two indispensable components of tragedy. The actors recited the dialogue and the chorus sang the lyrics. The performance didn't stop from beginning to end, and the chorus played the role of dividing the lens.
Greek tragedy has a fixed formula, which is generally divided into four parts: opening, entry, 3~5 dramatic scenes and exit. Originally in the form of trilogy, the three plays are interrelated and relatively independent in subject matter and thought. Due to the limitations of various performance conditions, the plot is relatively simple; The incident did not last long; The venue hasn't changed much.
The 5th century BC was the heyday of Greek tragedy. During this period, a large number of tragic poets emerged and staged many tragic works. The works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and euripides have survived to this day. Their works reflect the social life of slave owners in different stages of democratic development, and also show the ideological and artistic characteristics of Greek tragedies in different periods.
Greek comedy appeared after tragedy, and its prosperity was in the crisis era of Athens city-state. Early Greek comedies were mostly political satire and social drama. It draws on contemporary real life and expresses opinions on major political and social issues that people are generally concerned about. Therefore, it is more political than the Greek tragedy.
Greek comedy evolved from folk rituals and burlesque, so the plot, characters, lines and actions are very exaggerated, funny, even absurd and vulgar.
There were three great comic poets in Athens in the 5th century BC, but only aristophanes left the complete works.