ancient literature of the western world hebrew greek roman
TRANSCRIPT
ANCIENT LITERATURE OF THE WESTERN WORLD
HebrewGreekRoman
THE ANCIENT WESTERN WORLD
800 BCE (Old Testament and Homer) to476 CE (collapse of Roman Empire)
Mediterranean basin (see maps before p 1 and 9)
Rulers, herders, farmers, sailors, slaves
Hospitality in a dangerous, powerful, chaotic world
Patriarchy
EARLIER
11,000 BCE
3000 BCE
2700 BCE
2000 BCE
Wheat and barley are domesticated in Iran/Iraq
Egyptian pharaohs begin building pyramids
The historic Gilgamesh rules in Mesopotamia
The Babylonian flood story is (apparently) composed
Gilgamesh
“The first great heroic narrative of world literature” (Lawall et al. 15)
The story of the flood reappears in both Hebrew and Greek literature
The language in which it was written disappeared when Hebrew and Greek were being formed
Babylon in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq)
THE HEBREWS
Right-Acting The Law Religion
God: Just and Merciful Humans: Inadequate
HEBREW TIMELINE
1800 BCE (Wikipedia) 1005-925 BCE 586 BCE
539 BCE
300 BCE
63 BCE 34 CE 1948 CE
Abraham David and Solomon Deportation to
Babylon The return to
Palestine and the canonical Pentateuch
Alexander the Great (Greek speaking)
Roman absorption The diaspora The state of Israel
HEBREW LANGUAGE
Useful system Extremely
concrete
Glowing Building Saying Green pastures
Abstract suggestion
--jealousy--truth--creating--peace and prosperity
GENESIS
Focused on the nature of God Explains the relationship of the
Divine to the human Contains Jewish history, law, and
literature Defines the Hebrew identity
The Ideal HebrewRight Acting
Wise Obedient Devoted
Righteous Capable of converse with God
Studious
Refined through suffering
Inadequate Inclined toward evil
THE GREEKS
Right-Thinking Intellectual Philosophy
The gods: powerful and self-centered
Humans: responsible for community
GREEK TIMELINE
2000 BCE 1200 BCE 700 BCE 450 BCE
404 BCE 338 BCE
Minoan culture The Trojan War Literacy is common Athens and Sparta
“share” prominence Sparta defeats
Athens Greek liberty ends;
Greek dispersion begins
GREEK LANGUAGE
The language of “cultural homogeneity” (Lawall et al. 8) until Latin
Heavily symbolic Homer’s works derived from the oral
tradition Formulaic Repetitive Familiar plots arranged by storyteller to create
new meaning
THE ILIAD
An epic—A “textbook” for an entire culture (history, sociology, psychology, religion, philosophy, science)
Focused on human activity Explains the Greek identity Defines the boundaries, the
extremes, of the Greek experience
THE ODYSSEY
An epic, a textbook Focuses on the human experience
in a hostile natural world Symbolically traces the life
experience of the hero Examines the internal experience of
the balanced, ideal Greek
AGAMEMNON
A tragedy meant to create catharsis Traces the life and self-caused fall
of the hero important to society Focuses on social issues Originally religious in nature,
attempts to define and even create morality
LYSISTRATA
A comedy meant to exaggerate real people and common concerns to prompt reconsideration of accepted conventions (the status quo) and stereotypes
Drama, whether comedy or tragedy, tends to focus on society
Aristophanes questions war, sources of power, and gender roles
THE IDEAL GREEKRight Thinking
Adaptable Versatile Socially graceful
A warrior An orator and leader
Capable of creating and upholding morality
Complex, questioning
Clever Tricky
THE ROMANS
Borrowers Practical Society
The gods: impractical Humans: disciplined
builders
ROMAN TIMELINE
201 BCE
146 BCE 31 BCE 96 – 180 CE
380 CE
Rome emerges as a world power
Defeats Carthage Octavius Augustus
unites the Empire Unparalleled
worldwide peace Christianity is
adopted as state religion
LATIN
The foundation of all Romance languages, including English
Continued to be the language of the educated until the 1500s
Name Changes
Roman Ulysses Pallas (Minerva) Sol Neptune Jupiter, Jove Juno Venus Mars
Greek Odysseus Athena Apollo Poseidon Zeus Hera Aphrodite Ares
And Some New Names
Laocoon Sinon Neoptolemus, Pyrrhus Cassandra Creusa Iulus, Ascanius Anchises
Laocoon and the Serpents
A magnificent Greek statue by Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus, unearthed in Rome in 1508 and now in the Vatican, shows Laocoön and his sons in their death struggle. This Hellenistic sculpture had an important influence on the artists of the Renaissance.
Aeneas Leaving Troy
A mural in Pompeii, Italy, dating from the 1st century, showing the Trojan hero Aeneas receiving treatment for a wound. His mother, the Greek goddess Aphrodite, looks on anxiously. But Aeneas was also a hero to the Romans, for in eventually becoming a prince of Latium (an ancient territory in Italy), he could be said to be Rome's earliest historical ruler.(Image © The Art Archive/Archaeological Museum Naples/Dagli Orti)
THE AENEID
An often-didactic epic Focused on rebuilding the human-
centered morality of the past in a time when peace was allowing more freedoms
THE IDEAL ROMAN
Socially serious
Orderly, organized, disciplined
Practical (engineers)
Powerful (winners)
Masculine Hard-working
Conservative Wealthy Concerned with maintaining the status quo