The ancient Greeks were in a low-level social development stage, with insufficient knowledge, low production level and difficult life. According to a myth, King Tantalus was punished by God. He was immersed in deep water with fruit trees beside him. He bowed his head to drink water, and the water receded, reaching for the fruit, and the tree dodged. He is always suffering from hunger and thirst. This philosophical story depicts the image of ancient Greeks who were tortured and confused in nature and society. Under this condition, they can only understand natural and social phenomena through imagination. In this way, there is a myth.
Greek mythology mainly includes stories of gods and legends of heroes.
The story of God mainly includes stories about the creation of the world, the appearance of God, the genealogy of God, the alternation of dynasties in heaven, the origin of mankind and God's daily activities. In the imagination of the ancient Greeks, mountains, rivers, trees, the sun, the moon, the ocean, the land, even rainbows after the rain and daffodils by the river were all gods; The success or failure of birth, illness, illness and death depends entirely on providence. They created a huge family of God. Zeus is the head of the gods, Poseidon is the sea god, Hades is the ghost god, Apollo is the sun god, themis is the god of hunting, Ares is the god of war, hephaestus is the god of fire, Hermes is the god of commerce, nine muses are the goddess of literature and art, and three moira are the goddess of fate. The gods live on Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. The gods in Greek mythology are different from those in other developed religions, and they are very close to secular life. Most gods are very much like nobles in the clan. They are willful, hedonistic, vain, jealous and revengeful. They are eager for power and interests, and sometimes they secretly go down the mountain to have sex with beautiful men and women on earth. The gods, represented by Zeus, mostly like to play tricks on human beings, and even intend to destroy human beings three times and five times. The ancient Greeks often laughed at the evil of God in mythology and accused God of injustice. Homer once said, "God gives fear and pain to the poor, but God himself lives happily." However, there are also great gods like Prometheus who benefit mankind. Prometheus stole skyfire to the world, which made mankind make epoch-making progress. Zeus nailed him to the Caucasus Mountain and released an evil eagle to peck at his liver every day.
The legend of heroes is a memory of ancient history, social life and people's struggle with nature. Heroes are regarded as descendants of gods and people, and are actually representatives of collective strength and wisdom. The legend of heroes has formed many systems with different families as the center, mainly including the Twelve Great Achievements of Heracles, theseus's extermination for the people, Jason's capture of golden fleece, the Trojan War and so on. Hercules is a famous Hercules who killed a water snake in the cradle. When he was young, the evil goddess came to lure him to the road of enjoyment, but he listened to the advice of the good goddess and decided to take risks to benefit everyone. Legend has it that when he came of age, he killed nine-headed dragons and Medusa, a snake-haired banshee, and even defeated Hades in the lower bound, rescued theseus from captivity, and made their husband and wife live happily. The story about Hercules is full of heroism, which embodies the ancient people's precious qualities of loving labor and cherishing the collective.
Myths also include some legends about production knowledge, such as the story that Prometheus taught people how to build houses, sail and cure diseases. There are also a lot of myths describing the joys and sorrows in daily life. There is a myth that Demeter, the goddess in charge of farming, was robbed by Hades of hades, and she was so sad that nothing grew on the earth. Because of Zeus' arrangement, she can see her daughter once a year. They are together, the earth is warm, everything grows luxuriantly, and there is spring; After my daughter came back, the earth was cold again, and there was winter. This myth that explains time series reflects the joys and sorrows of the world. From many myths, we can also see Greek hospitality customs and hobbies for music, dance and sports.
Greek mythology was formed in a long time, and the character, responsibility and story of God all developed and changed. In the earliest myths, the natural attribute of God is very strong, often with the nature of totem worship. With the development of social life, the social attribute of God gradually occupies the main position. The deism in Homer's epic reflects the hierarchical relationship of clan society, such as Zeus, who is a funny and perverse clan leader in the epic. In slave society, God is the symbol of the slave owner class. In some tragedies, Zeus became a tyrant who went his own way-the enemy of the democratic system. By the fifth century BC, sophists had explained the causes of myth from a rational point of view and denied the existence of God. However, the aristocratic group tried its best to expand the authority of God, and Plato severely accused the ancient poets of their abomination and ridiculous blasphemy. The legend of heroes's history is relatively simple, and it has always maintained the brand of barbarism and clan society.
Marx once pointed out that "any myth uses imagination and imagination to conquer, dominate and visualize natural forces;" Therefore, when these natural forces are actually dominated, the myth disappears. " He also said that myth is "the natural and social form itself processed by people's fantasy in an unconscious artistic way". Greek mythology is the result of primitive consciousness activities of ancient Greeks. It artistically summarizes their understanding of nature and society, expresses their indignation at social injustice, condenses their experiences and thoughts, and is full of optimism. In the description of later writers, Greek mythology has naive and beautiful fantasy and fresh and simple style.
Myth is the soil of ancient Greek literature. Poems, tragedies, etc since then. They all took myth and the legend of heroes as their themes, which also had an important influence on later writers.
The Ilion and Odysseus are the earliest important works in the history of European literature. According to legend, it was written by a blind poet named Homer in the 9th and 8th centuries BC based on the short epic songs circulated orally in Asia Minor, so it was called "Homer's Epic". Because the epic was formed for a long time and contained elements of different times, it was more inclined to meet the interests of the nobility after bard was welcomed into the court. In the 6th century BC, two epics were formally written into words, and in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, they were edited by scholars in Alexandria, each part being 24 volumes.
Illion tells the story of the Trojan War. Archaeological excavations confirmed the war. Troy is located on the northwest coast of Asia Minor, and its business is prosperous. The epic calls it "the rich Ilion" and "has fabulous wealth". At the beginning of BC12nd century, some tribes on the Greek Peninsula jointly attacked Troy and destroyed the city. Ilion's original meaning is "Ilion's Song", which is a story about God and a legend of heroes.
According to legend, when Achilles' parents held a wedding, they didn't invite Eris, the goddess of discord. She came to the dinner party and left a "disharmonious golden apple" which read "For the most beautiful woman". Hera, Athena and Awei Loutit are really fighting for this fruit. Zeus asked them to judge Paris, the prince of Troy. The three goddesses promised Paris their best interests, Hera promised him to be the greatest monarch, Athena promised him to be the bravest warrior, and Avelot Dieter promised him to marry the most beautiful woman. Paris thinks that Ivory Dieter is the most beautiful. He then went to Sparta as a guest, abducted the beautiful Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta, and stole a lot of wealth. The Greek tribes elected Agamemnon as the leader and jointly attacked Troy. The war lasted for ten years, and the gods helped. Finally, Odysseus designed to abandon a huge wooden horse and hidden soldiers outside the city and pretend to retreat. Troy's horse was dragged into the city by the Trojans. At night, the Greeks finally captured Troy from the inside out. After the war, the Greeks each returned home with treasure slaves.
This epic focuses on what happened dozens of days before the end of the war. Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the allied forces, arbitrarily took the female prisoners of Achilles and humiliated them in public. Achilles is the highest general in the Greek army. He refused to take part in the war and prayed that Zeus would bring disaster to the Greeks. As a result, the Greeks were defeated repeatedly, and Agamemnon made amends and was also rejected. In an emergency, Achilles' friend went into battle with his armor and was killed by the Trojan hero hector. Achilles was devastated. He settled old scores, got revenge, killed hector, and dragged the body behind the chariot to vent his anger. Later, the Pharaoh of Troy knelt down and asked for the body, and the epic story was written all the way to hector's funeral. The whole poem *** 15693 lines.
In Homer's time, wars often occurred between tribes. When talking about this era, Engels pointed out: "The war between ancient tribes has begun to degenerate into constant robbery on land and at sea to seize livestock, slaves and treasures, and it has become a normal business." The war described in Illion is a plunder under the cover of touching myth. At that time, due to the internal division of Shifang tribe, nobles and civilians had different attitudes towards war. In Greece, for example, due to the uneven distribution of plunder, clan aristocrats have serious infighting. They regard war as an important means to increase personal wealth. Out of this need, they regard heroic fighting as the supreme virtue. They are full of enthusiasm for the war, and they persist despite setbacks. Clan civilians did not benefit from the war like more primitive tribal members; They were forced to participate in the war under the threat of punishment and sacrificed the most. Agamemnon tested whether the Greek army had returned to China, proving that most Greek civilians were war-weary. However, according to the view of the vested interests in the war, the epic vilifies the image of the civilian representative. Under this condition, the epic's praise of war and nobility is also based on the interests of nobility. On the Trojan side, the clan civilians supported the nobles because of the destruction of the city-state, but only appeared as the background of the foil hero.
The Ilion is a heroic epic, and clan leaders are praised by all sides. The first is courage. For example, andromache advised Hector not to go to war. The poet wrote:
Hector replied, "It is my duty to defend Troy.
Everything about war is my job.
If I Hector fled the battlefield like a coward,
Don't let the brave son of Troy
Trojan women in a robe.
I have been practicing courage since I was a teenager.
Always fighting at the forefront of the trojans,
Win glory for my father and myself.
Another example is that Achilles' mother once predicted that he might have two fates, either to live a peaceful life and live a long life, or to die young in the war. In order to gain honor, he chose the second fate. The way of war at that time was very primitive. Whether a person can become a hero depends on his brawn. Most of the heroes in the epic are full of energy and superb martial arts. Achilles is as fast as a fly. He is invulnerable except for his heel. As soon as he appeared, he let the enemy lose confidence. Nestor, the hero of the older generation, is also inferior in poetry because of his old age and exhaustion. The heroes in the epic are all tribal leaders, majestic and inviolable, and often act arbitrarily. In addition, due to the underdeveloped social division of labor at that time, the heroes were all in uniform and versatile. Odysseus can not only build ships, but also fight, be eloquent and be good at making suggestions.
But the heroes in the epic mainly fight to plunder and strengthen personal power. The heroic concept in the epic also adapts to the hierarchical concept in the clan. These heroes are different from the heroes in the legend of heroes. Most of them are the embodiment of the ideals and experiences of the masses, while the former is an arrogant aristocrat who is above the masses and oppresses the common people of this tribe. Agamemnon and Achilles are the representatives of such heroes. They are heroes in the transition period from clan society to slave society under the condition of internal division of clan. Thersites, a representative of ordinary people, was slandered as a coward and scolded. In fact, he dared to denounce the Allied Commander-in-Chief and clan leader, and called on Greek soldiers to stop working for the leader and resolutely return home. He should be a hero among civilians.
The war described in the Ilion Ji is related to the survival of a country. The main line of the book is the performance of the protagonist, and a thrilling battle scene is launched. The emotions of the characters are very intense. The whole poem is full of heroism. The description of the characters in the epic is very wonderful. Heroic images all have distinct personalities. Achilles was the leader of a small tribe. He coveted the wealth of Troy before the war began. In the epic, he refused to take part in the war because of the double damage of material interests and power, and fought back by breaking with the supreme commander. He is furious and terrible, and he is a typical brave clan leader.
Hector is a mature leader. He had a premonition that Troy was doomed to destruction, and felt sad and heavy-hearted about the tragic fate faced by his wife and children, but he controlled his sadness and resolutely assumed the responsibility of defending the country. His image is strongly tragic. The images of other main characters in the epic are also full, and their manners and inner activities are lively. Their personalities are often expressed in dialogue and behavior through drama, but they are generally static and lack of change.
Ilion also widely reflected the social life, religious life, production and trade, sports and other activities at that time. One of the most famous passages is about blacksmith hephaestus forging armor for Achilles, and his heart is full of joy of labor. The pictures he carved on the shield reflect the scenes of daily production and labor.
Odysseus described the story of the Greek hero Odysseus coming home after the Trojan War.
Odysseus drifted at sea for ten years and never came home. During this period, many young nobles coveted his property, lived in his house and made a splash, exhausted his wealth and proposed to his wife. In the tenth year, Odysseus drifted to Scria Island, where he was entertained by the king. He recalled to the king what happened after he left Troy. The first time he encountered a storm at sea, some of his companions were swallowed up by the cyclops Cook rope. It is also the hometown of date palms. People here feed on dates, and passers-by are reluctant to return to their homeland after eating. Later Fengshen gave him a bag of gifts. When Ithaca, his hometown, was in sight, the sailors thought there was treasure in the bag. When they opened it, the strong wind inside flew out and blew them away. They went to the demon island of the witch who turned people into pigs, went to the ghost domain, passed the Sai Ren demon island where people were fascinated by singing first and then killed, and met the six-headed banshee Shula and the banshee Kalibudis hiding under the whirlpool. Odysseus and the sailors overcame these dangers one by one. Later, on the island of Apollo, the sailors violated the constraints and slaughtered the cattle on the island. Zeus sank the ship with thunder, but Odysseus was the only one who survived the death and was detained on an island for seven years by the fairy Calypso mythology myth. After that, Zeus ordered the fairy to let him go home, and he drifted to the island of Scria. After hearing the story, the king sent him home. Odysseus pretended to be a beggar, killed the suitor and finally reunited with his wife Penelope. The whole poem * * * consists of 12 105 lines, and the story lasts about forty days.
The absurd things and stories in the epic reflect the natural phenomenon of fantasy processing and the ancient human struggle against nature. The main representative of natural forces is the ocean. According to the epic, the ocean is as beautiful as a violet, but it is always ready to destroy mankind. In contrast, human power is inherently small and fragile. But because of their bravery and fortitude, they finally conquered the sea, and their style was even greater than the sea. The poetry of this heroic epic is first expressed here. Most stories in epics contain many lessons. For example, the cyclops' body is dozens of times larger than that of the National People's Congress, and he is almost invincible. But Odysseus did not flinch. He managed to blind him with his huge trunk, cleverly got rid of the giant's revenge and escaped from the giant's cave. This story praises people's wisdom and courage. Another example is that the sailors were greedy for self-interest, violated the constraints, opened the wind bag and ate the sacred cow, which finally brought irreparable disaster. This failure contains profound lessons.
Odysseus also extensively described the social struggle in Homer's time. The social life it reflects is a little later than that in Bjorion. There are few scenes of collective life, and the description of slave owners' family life is very prominent. Odysseus was an early slave owner. Social struggle is embodied in his struggle with suitors. It is mentioned many times in the epic that the most disgusting thing is that the suitor occupies Odysseus' property. This struggle is mainly a struggle to safeguard private rights. The author believes that it is shameful to seize other people's property, and the pursuers should be punished. Odysseus represents the power of justice.
This epic takes a eulogizing attitude towards the emerging slavery relationship. In the poem, slave owners such as Odysseus are described as generous and kind, praising slaves who serve him faithfully, opposing vicious slave owners such as suitors, and hating slaves who betray Odysseus, so that they are all severely punished. Epic emphasizes loyalty to slave owners, which is even reflected in the story of Odysseus' old dog. The dog is so old that no one pays attention to it. It was the first to recognize the returning owner, struggled to show his love to him, and then died at his feet, which made Odysseus shed tears. On the other hand, the epic also reflects the unfortunate fate of slaves in some places. The pig-raising slave in the Odyssey said that when a person becomes a slave, he loses half his dignity. Epic also sympathizes with slaves, such as the mill girl.
Ode to Xun also vividly reflects the family relationship and social life during the transition from clan society to slave society. At that time, monogamy was obviously established for women. This epic focuses on Penelope's loyalty and chastity. As can be seen from the poem, the slave owners also took part in some labor at that time; Handicraft and commerce have developed considerably; Noble soldiers despise businessmen; There is a hospitable and competitive atmosphere in society. The epic also describes the scene of the troubadour telling Troy war stories at the banquet, which reflects the cultural life in Homer's time.
The central figure in the epic is Odysseus. He is alert, restrained and can use tricks. As an early slave owner, he possessed all kinds of qualities and talents idealized by slave owners in order to establish slavery. He is a clever leader, a brave warrior, an expert in production, a beloved slave owner and a good husband. The most important thing in his character is that he is not afraid of difficulties and shows his true qualities as a hero in unimaginable difficulties. He went through a lot of hardships and didn't want to be at ease. Although he returned to his home, he obeyed God's will and planned to leave home again. The ending of the epic left a lingering sound.
Odysseus is an epic about sailing and family life, and its artistic features are quite different from Illion. "Ilion Ji" has a tragic style and a fast pace. Although Odysseus also wrote thrilling fights, the scenes were magnificent and varied, and the overall style was relatively calm. The part describing the sea experience in the poem is full of romantic fantasy, the part of family life is realistic and lyrical, and some details are described successfully. For example, when the old wet nurse washed a stranger's feet, she recognized Odysseus disguised as a beggar from the scar on her feet, and the past immediately emerged. Her eyes were full of tears and she was too excited to speak.
Odysseus is the first work in European literature with personal experience as the main content, and it has become the pioneer of tramp novels and critical realism novels in the Renaissance and18th century.
Homer's era can produce such brilliant literature, which is determined by the historical conditions at that time. As mentioned above, Marx believed that ancient Greek society was the most developed society in human childhood. Only in the backward production and insufficient knowledge of human childhood can the innocent and beautiful fantasy of the Greeks be produced and have permanent charm. Gorky also said that the literature in Homer's era was the crystallization of the collective creative genius of the ancient Greek people, and it was difficult to compare with later personal works.
In Homer's epic, people-oriented thought can already be seen. The ancient Greeks also had ideas about hades and heaven, but they talked very little about it. They don't think much about the afterlife, their hope is in the world. The ghost of Achilles said that he would rather be an employee on earth than be king in hades. Epic praises the beauty and wisdom of human beings and laughs at the evil of God. The author loves life, praises labor, and still believes in the strength of human beings in the face of dangers in nature.
Realism and romanticism, the two most basic creative methods, both appear in epics. In the ode, the realistic method has been strengthened.
The literary achievement of Homer's era lies in the creation of a perfect epic form. Aristotle believes that there are many kinds of epics, including simple epics, complex epics, suffering epics and character epics. These two homer epics contain the characteristics of these epics and are usually called heroic epics. It takes serious events as the theme, heroes as the center, noble style and full of drama. It adopts the third-person narrative method, which is large in scale, interspersed with many words and decorative in language. It often takes various phenomena in daily life, labor and nature as metaphors, and adopts short six-step poetic style, which is usually called heroic style.
Homer's epic is an important material for civic education in the later city-state period. It is like an encyclopedia, from which the ancient Greeks learned all the knowledge about astronomy, geography, history, society, philosophy, art and mythology. Homer's epic is a model of later European epics, and many European writers get material from the stories and characters of the two epics. It still gives readers artistic enjoyment and makes people understand all aspects of ancient clan society.
After Homer's epic, hershey's Oracle Bone Inscriptions poem "Farming and Heaven" appeared in Greece. In the eighth century BC, industry and commerce and monetary economy were developed, land was concentrated in the hands of nobles, and farmers were trapped in poverty and rose up against nobles. Hesiod's younger brother, Poerxiusi, tried to seize his property with the influence of local aristocrats. He wrote this poem to persuade Poerxiusi. The whole poem is 828 lines. The poem describes the hardships of human life and mentions the golden age, the silver age, the bronze age, the heroic age and the iron age. The author thinks that every era is getting worse. The iron age emphasized power, not justice. Farmers are like nightingales under talons. The poet advised his brother to do things fairly. Part of the poem describes the farmers' management for one year and tells how to manage agriculture, which is very wonderful. The last section records the auspicious and ominous days of each month. The whole poem condemns the arrogance of the nobility and praises the industrious peasants. It is the first poem handed down from ancient Greece with real life as its theme, and its style is fresh, natural, concise and clear. He also handed down a poem "Divine Spectrum" in the name of Hershey, which is probably not his work. This poem describes the formation of the universe and the lineage and struggle of the gods. This poem vividly describes the struggle between Zeus and Titan.
During the eighth and sixth centuries BC, the clan society further disintegrated and the slave city-states gradually formed. After the disintegration of the clan society, people lost the protection of the clan and had to make a living alone, facing the difficulties of struggle for existence. At this time, the collective feelings were diluted by class differentiation and social status inequality, and personal experiences caused various complex emotions, which were manifested in poetry. Therefore, lyric poetry was particularly prosperous in this period. Lyrics come from folk songs, which are divided into two-tube songs (or lamentations), piano music and satirical poems. Double-pipe songs have a variety of themes, including military and political affairs, moral education and love, and most of them are accompanied by double-pipe songs. Qin Ge is divided into solo and chorus, accompanied by harp. Satire is written in short poems and long poems, and can be sung with a double pipe or a harp. The style of double-tube songs is quiet and soft, and satirical poems are lively, enthusiastic and sharp. The two most famous orchestral songs are the battle songs written by Tiresu (at the end of the 7th century BC) for Spartans, and Solon, an Athenian legislator (in 639 BC? -559) political poems written to defend his policies, and Simonides Of Ceos (556 BC? -468? ) epitaph for 300 Spartans who died in the Battle of Wenquanguan (480 BC). Satire is used to satirize or curse. The most famous author is Arka Rocos (7 14 BC? -676? ), his satire is sharp and powerful.
The most famous composer of piano solo songs is Sappho (6 12 BC? -? ), she is a nobleman in Lesbos, where she organized a music school, wrote love songs and wedding songs, and sang with female disciples. She wrote nine volumes of poetry, only two complete poems and some residual sentences have been handed down. She wrote her complicated psychological changes with simple and natural poems, which reflected the life interest of Greek slave owners and nobles. After Sappho's death, her fame spread throughout Greece. Plato called her "the tenth goddess of literature and art", and she was highly respected among poets with aristocratic tendencies in western Europe. Another famous author of Qin Song is Anacreon (550 BC? -465? ), he wrote five volumes of poems, praising wine and love, including piano solos, double-pipe songs and satirical poems, and only some short poems and residual sentences were handed down from generation to generation. Many people in ancient times and later generations imitated his poetic style and called it "Anacreon Style".
Piano solos expressing personal feelings are only popular in narrow aristocratic circles. Chorus, piano, singing and dancing, with complex and precise structures, express the feelings of most people and are loved by the broad masses of the people. The most famous writer of chorus piano music is professional poet Pinda (522 BC? -442)。 At that time, sports competitions prevailed in Greece, and competitive activities were combined with festivals dedicated to the gods. Pindar praised the winners of the Olympic Games and other Pan-Greek Games and their city-states in his poems. He wrote seventeen volumes of poetry, but only four volumes have been handed down. His poems contain pan-Greek patriotic enthusiasm and moral teachings; He praised the victory of the Greeks in the Battle of Salami (480 BC). He believes that a person's fate after death depends on his behavior when he is alive. His poems are solemn in style, flowery in rhetoric and perfect in form. Pindar's chorus had a great influence on later European literature and was regarded as a model of "lofty ode" in the classicism period of the 17th century.
At the same time, there are also some prose stories widely circulated among the people. Many of them are animal fables, which are said to have been written by Aesop in the sixth century BC. The legendary Aesop was an ugly but extremely clever slave who was later liberated. In the 1 century, Ba Briouse rewrote 120 Aesop's fables with metrical poems and compiled them into a collection. Some Aesop's fables may also come from Asia and Africa.
The contents of Aesop's fables are quite different from lyric poems. Lyrics mainly reflect the taste of aristocratic slave owners; Aesop's fables reflect the thoughts and feelings of the lower class civilians and slaves. Many of these stories show the class opposition at that time, such as Wolf and Lamb. A wolf saw a lamb drinking water by the river and wanted to find an excuse to eat it. The wolf accused the lamb of polluting the water, and the lamb said, I am downstream, so it is impossible to pollute the water upstream. The wolf said that the lamb scolded him last year, and the lamb replied that I was not born at that time. The wolf was ashamed and angry, and said, "Even if you defend well, I won't let you go", so he swallowed the lamb. The lesson of this fable is, "A tyrant has no shortage of excuses." This story is a profound portrayal of slave society. Aesop's fables compare the oppressors to lions, jackals, poisonous snakes, crocodiles and foxes, and condemn their atrocities of doing evil and harming the people. There are many stories in fables that sum up the struggles and life lessons of ancient people. For example, The Farmer and the Snake teaches people not to be kind to their enemies. Cats and chickens tell people to be wary of their enemies and not to be fooled. The quarrel between farmers' sons shows that unity is strength; The Race between the Tortoise and the Rabbit exhorts people not to be proud. Crows and foxes satirize vanity; Fox and Grapes satirizes the self-comfort of the incompetent. Some fables also reflect the negative consciousness of the oppressed who are content with the status quo. For example, the propagandist of Two Cocks and Eagles must be modest in order to gain favor. Aesop's Fables has a strong ideological content, short and pithy form, appropriate metaphor and vivid image, which has a great influence on later European fable writers and is often imitated and quoted by later generations.