Ancient Greek and Roman Literature

Study Guide for the Test

History

• Greece civilization began on Crete.

• Called Minoan after King Minos (minotaur guy!)

• This era known as the Heroic Age, because of the Heroes of Myths/Homer’s Stories

• Greeks called themselves Hellenes

History

• Olympic games created during this time

• Lyric Poetry – personal instead of heroes

• Sparta vs Athens

• Athens creates democratic govt.

• Drama – profound questions about human suffering, individual free will, moral responsibility, and the limits of knowledge

History

• Socrates, Plato, Aristotle – Philosophers

• Peloponnesian War ends Athens rule

• Aeneid says a Trojan Prince founded Rome.

• Julius Caesar stabbed to death on March 15 – Beware the Ides of March

• Rome splits into two Empires (East/West) and slowly declines

Epic

• Invocation

• In medias res

• Epic Similes

• Stock epithets

• An extended narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and written in a high style

• Know conventions and characteristics!

The Iliad

• Literary Focus – Flashback and Foreshadowing

• Know the 3 Greek Beliefs

• Characters – Be able to match them to their sides and know how to describe the important ones

• Be able to answer simple plot questions

Oedipus Rex

• Literary Focus – Dramatic Irony

• Be able to define Tragedy, Tragic Flaw, Hubris, and Catharsis

• Discuss Themes – Fate vs Free Will, Quest for Identity/Truth, Nature of Innocence vs Guilt, or Nature of Moral Responsibility

• Greek Drama – Know it!