Reviewer for LIT103

Greek Literature
Terms to remember
Pederasty- in ancient Greece was a socially acknowledged erotic relationship between
an adult male (the erastes) and a younger male (the eromenos) usually in his teens.
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop
and inform the texts major themes.
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or
concepts.
On Origin of Men
Gaia or the Earth that emerges out of vacancy
Chaos Is an empty void that covers the world in the beginning
Prometheus claimed to be the one who created a new race of people
Pandora a woman created to punish men. Her name means all gifts.
Gods and Goddesses to Remember
Hephaestus/Vulcan- the only god to be physically ugly
Hermes Zeus messenger; the fastest of the gods; wears winged sandals, a winged
hat, and carries a magic wand.
Aphrodite has a magical girdle that compels anyone she wishes to desire her.
Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. His twin sister is Artemis. He is the god of music
Athena is the daughter of Zeus. She sprang full grown in armour from his forehead
Thanatos god of death
Poseidon created the first horse
They lived inside human-like bodies with an ethereal fluid called ichor running through
the veins.
Eros god of love
Prominent Greek Mythology Characters

Echo was a mountain nymph who was punished by Hera for helping Zeus with his
affairs. Her voice was taken from her and she can only do foolish repetition of others
voice
Narcissus - Narcissus, was the son of River God Cephisus and nymph Lyriope.Narcissus
was once walking by a lake or river and decided to drink some water; he saw his
reflection in the water and was surprised by the beauty he saw; he became entranced
by the reflection of himself. He could not obtain the object of his desire though, and he
died at the banks of the river or lake from his sorrow.
Daphne - was a Naiad nymph of the river Peneios in Thessalia or the Ladon of Arkadia.
She was loved by the god Apollo who pursued her until she grew exhausted, cried out
to Gaia for help and was transformed into a laurel tree.
Odyssey
An extended adventurous voyage or trip; an intellectual or spiritual quest; any ritual
quest; any long journey, esp. when filled with adventure, hardships, etc.
~ Things to remember about this story:
Penelope - marital faithfulness
Being between Scylla and Charybdis is an idiom deriving from Greek mythology,
meaning "having to choose between two evils".
The sea itself is a recurring symbol throughout the epic. It is, in effect, the sea of
life. It represents a great man's journey through life with all its victories and
heartbreaks.
Lack of judgment when he incurs the wrath of the sea god, Poseidon, by
blinding the god's son Polyphemus.
As goddess of wisdom and battle, Athena naturally has a soft spot for the brave
and wily Odysseus.
Oedipus Rex
~ Things to remember about this story:
Oedipus he is the main character of the story. His name means swollen foot. He
was abandoned as a child and was saved by a herdsman. After being saved,
he was raced in Corinth. He left Corinth because of a prophecy he heard and
he went to a journey to Thebes. He became king of Thebes when he defeated
the sphinx that held the city captive. He killed Laius the former king but he did
not know that he was his father. He also married Queen Jocasta, who is actually
his mother. A messenger tried to clear Oedipus conscience, but he later on
discovered this and he asked for him to be exiled.
There was a curse that has befallen Thebes, and people were praying to Apollo
to help them with the plague. They experienced famine, stillborn children and a
plague that have caused suffering to its entire citizen. Oedipus asked his brother
in law Creon to seek the Oracle to ask how to end the Plague.

 Creon was the brother in law of Oedipus and brother of Queen Jocasta.
Creon claims to have no desire for kingship. Yet, when he has the opportunity to
grasp power at the end of that play, Creon seems quite eager, and was trying to
investigate the death of King Laius, but was prevented by the sphinx to do so. He
even associated the reason for the plague with the failure to avenge the murder
of King Laius. He was later accused of treason by Oedipus.
Queen Jocasta is Oedipuss wife and mother, and Creons sister. Jocasta is one
of the characters who wished for the prophecy to not be true, and she was
happy when she heard news from Polybus disproving the prophecies, but later
on she discovered that the prophecy came true.
King Laius was the murdered king of Thebes and the father of Oedipus. He once
travelled outside Thebes to seek the advice of the oracle.
The Chorus reacts on the events on the stage. The Choruss reactions can be
lessons in how the audience should interpret what it is seeing, or how it should not
interpret what it is seeing. They said that death is the way to end the suffering
seen.
Tiresias is the blind soothsayer of Thebes. He is a key character of the story, for he
was the only one knowledgeable about Oedipus past.
This story presents dramatic irony which is prominent in how Oedipus is really
determined to find the murderer of King Laius when in fact he was the one who
killed Laius.
The major theme of the story was about fate being a powerful and inevitable
thing.
Oedipus Rex is an example ofa Greek tragedy, and is sometimes compared with
other Greek Tragedies like Antigone and Electra.
Iliad
~ Things to remember about this story:
This story begins with an invocation to the muses
Apollo was the god who prevented the Greeks from winning all throughout the
story. He was also the one who lifted the plague cast upon the Greeks.
There were gods who sided the Trojans and Greeks, but they agreed to a nonintervention pact for the war, and even the mighty Zeus cannot do anything to
save his mortal son during the war.
Achilles was the son of the military man Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis. The
most powerful warrior in The Iliad, Achilles commands the Myrmidons, soldiers
from his homeland of Phthia in Greece. Proud and headstrong, he takes offense
easily and reacts with blistering indignation when he perceives that his honor has
been slighted. Achilles wrath at Agamemnon for taking his war prize, the
maiden Briseis, and threatened to go home with the Myrmidons. He was about
to stop helping with the Greeks battle, but he returned to camp when he heard
about the death of Patroclus.
Patroclus is Achilles beloved friend, companion, and advisor; Patroclus grew up
alongside the great warrior in Phthia, under the guardianship of Peleus. He
pretended to be Achilles in the battlefield, and was killed by Hector. Before his
death, he predicted Hectors death.
Hector is the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, Hector is the mightiest
warrior in the Trojan army. He mirrors Achilles in some of his flaws, but his bloodlust

is not as great as that of Achilles. He is devoted to his wife, Andromache, and

son, Astyanax, but resents his brother Paris for bringing war upon their family and
city. He was once instructed by a soothsayer to pray with his mother, Hecuba.
Agamemnon is the king of Mycenae and leader of the Achaean army; brother
of King Menelaus of Sparta. He almost abandoned the war, but was convinced
by Diomedes, the youngest of the commanders. He had a falling out with
Achilles, because of Chryseis.
When Achilles defeated Hector, he tied Hectors body to his chariot and
dragged it around the city.
The story end s with Achilles returning Hectors body to King Priam and there was
a funeral pyre for Hector.
Roman Literature
Roman literature is somewhat inspired by the Greek literature. It is characterized
as impracticable and unfeasible, and in a way does not mirror the Roman
society.
Ovid was born on March 20, 43 B.C. After holding brief judicial posts as a young
man,
Ovid
turned
to
writing
poetry.
Works
such
as Ars
amatoria andMetamorphoseswere very popular, but for reasons that remain
mysterious today, Emperor Augustus banished him to the island of Tomis in 8 B.C.
Ovid wrote Tristia andEpistulae ex Ponto in exile. He died in Constanta, Romania,
in 17 A.D. He was known for poems about love, and a poet of erotica.
Ancient Indian Literature
The Maurya Dynasty which established an Indian empire paved the way into
many literary developments.
Ancient Chinese Literature
China has produced a lot of great literary writings. Their history that showed a
strong cultural continuity has produced a Masters Literature which is a collection
of philosophical texts.
Ancient China also produced a Chinese Classic of Changes which was
considered to be a canonical divination text.
Confucius is Chinas most famous teacher, philosopher, and political theorist,
whose ideas have influenced the civilization of East Asia. His philosophical
school, Confucianism produced the Analects which made use of the earliest
Chinese writing of bird and animal tracks.
During the Zhou Dynasty, The Mandate of Heaven was introduced and it sort of
justified the power of the emperor. It became an instrument in rationalizing the
transfer of power from one dynasty to dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty, also

introduced the shift of its court from west to east due for they were surrounded
by independent states.
During the Shang Dynasty, a common writing system was used. They used shells
and bones for this system of writing.
Ancient Civilizations
~ Different Ancient civilizations like Sumeria, Babylon, Mesopotamia and the like have
shaped the culture and way of life of man. These ancient civilizations together with
most cultures are polytheistic in nature when it comes to religion. When it comes to
writing, literature was not the first thing to have a written record, but the earliest written
documents were political and legal records. When it comes to literature, it earliest forms
were oral stories brought about by oral tradition.
Mesopotomia
Mesopotamia is known for its agricultural activities because of the Tigris and
Euphrates river valley system. This civilization is known for its various method of
learning and coined the term sophist which means a tutor.
Sumeria
Sumeria has contributed a system of writing called cuneiform, and has produced
a great literary piece entitled the Epic of Gilgamesh.
Phonecians
The Phonecians writing system employed the use of characters to symbolize
consonant sounds.
Persian
They are famous for being a powerful civilization in Asia Minor.
Egyptians
The Egyptians had a system of writing called as hieroglyphics. This system of
writing is unique because of its use of pictures.
Greek vs. Roman
In the Greek civilization, there are places or factions called as city- states. Athens
and Sparta is a city-state that is considered as rivalries. After the dark ages, a war
ensued between them, and Sparta defeated Athens.

 The war between the city-states brought chaos to Greece, and they went under
the control of the Macedonians. King Philips son, Alexander the Great
eventually inherits the control over the city-states.
If the Greeks are known for its city-states, the Romans political system was
prominent for its system of separating the political authority in the government.