Classical

Greece
1. The Iliad by Homer
Rome
2. Aeneid by Virgil
 Classical Period

The Classical Period consisted of Persian wars. It was a period of war and conflicts but
it was followed by the rise of political and cultural achievement. It brought us most
dominant political reform and greatest contribution in the modern world which is
democracy. There are wars from left to right, from the conflict of the Greeks and the
Persians, to Athenians and the Spartans. The Athenians became dominant in the
political, economic and cultural field. Artists and thinkers were given encouragement,
followed by the rise of comedic and dramatic plays as well as comic playwrights. Since
these achievements were gained, they have restored the faith in humanities. These are
the attributes of today, influenced the art, culture and politics.

Classical Greece. (2019, August 15). Retrieved from:

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Map of Greece
 Homer
Homer was born between the 12 th
and 8th centuries around Asia Minor.
The mind behind the two popular epic
poems, The Iliad and Odyssey that
had a huge impact in the Western
culture. Some scholars believe that
he lived near the time that the Trojan
War has happened but because of
his poetic style of writing, other
scholars believed otherwise. Through
his poems, people had an idea what
his life was like. He was also
compared to Demodokos, a character
in The Odyssey, who was blind.
Since his poems allegedly serve as a
reflection of life, everyone assumed
he was blind as well. He was always
represented as blind with beard and thick curly hair. Through Homer’s works, he
contributed a great amount of knowledge to Greece. His influence has spread all
throughout and even beyond. He serves as the foundation of Greek culture.

Homer Biography. (2019, July 16). Retrieved from:

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The Iliad
Epic, Tragedy, War

The Iliad begins nearly ten years into the seige of Troy by the Greek forces, led
by Agamemnon, King of Mycenae. The Greeks are quarrelling about whether or not to
return Chryseis, a Trojan captive of King Agamemnon, to her father, Chryses, a priest of
Apollo. When Agamemnon refuses and threatens to ransom the girl to her father, the
offended Apollo plagues them with a pestilence.
The Greeks, at the behest of the warrior-hero Achilles, force Agamemnon to return
Chryseis in order to appease Apollo and end the pestilence. But,
when Agamemnon eventually reluctantly agrees to give her back, he takes in her stead
Briseis, Achilles‘s own war-prize concubine. Feeling dishonoured, Achilles wrathfully
withdraws both himself and his Myrmidon warriors from the Trojan War.
Testing the resolve of the Greeks, Agamemnon feigns a homeward order,
but Odysseus encourages the Greeks to pursue the fight. During a brief truce in the
hostilities, Paris and Menelaus meet in single combat over Helen, while she and
old King Priam of Troy watch from the city walls and, despite the goddess Aphrodite’s
intervention on behalf of the over-matched Paris, Menelaus is the victor. The goddess
Athena, however, who favours the Greeks, soon provokes a Trojan truce-breaking and
battle begins anew.
The Greek hero Diomedes, strengthened by Athena, drives the Trojans before him but,
in his arrogance and blood-lust, strikes and injures Aphrodite. Despite the misgivings of
his wife, Andromache, the Trojan hero, Hector, son of King Priam, challenges the Greek
warrior-hero Ajax to single combat, and is almost overcome in battle. Throughout all, in
the background, the various gods and goddesses (particularly Hera, Athena, Apollo and
Poseidon) continue to argue among themselves and to manipulate and intervene in the
struggle, despite Zeus’ specific orders to the contrary.
Achilles steadfastly refuses to give in to pleas for help
from Agamemnon, Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix and Nestor, spurning the offered honours
and riches and even Agamemnon‘s belated offer to return Briseis to him. Diomedes
and Odysseus sneak into the Trojan camp and wreak havoc. But, with Achilles and his
warriors out of battle, the tide appears to begin to turn in favour of the
Trojans. Agamemnon is wounded in the battle and, despite the heroics
of Ajax, Hector successfully breaches the fortified Greek camp,
wounding Odysseus and Diomedes in the process, and threatens to set the Greek ships
on fire.
Torn between his allegiances, Achilles orders his friend and lover, Patroclus, to dress
in Achilles‘own armour and to lead the Myrmidons in repelling the Trojans. Intoxicated
by his success, Patroclus forgets Achilles‘ warning, and pursues the fleeing Trojans to
the walls of Troy and would have taken the city were it not for the actions of Apollo. In
the heat of the battle, though, Hector finds the disguised Patroclus and, thinking him to
be Achilles, fights and (again with Apollo’ help) kills him. Menelaus and the Greeks
manage to recover Patroclus’s corpse before Hector can inflict more damage.
Distraught at the death of his companion, Achilles then reconciles with Agamemnon and
rejoins the fray, despite knowing his deadly fate, and drives all the Trojans before him in
his fury. As the ten year war reaches its climax, even the gods join in the battle and the
earth shakes with the clamour of the combat.
Clad in new armour fashioned specially for him by Hephaestus, Achilles takes revenge
for his friend Patroclus by slaying Hector in single combat, but then defiles and
desecrates his corpse for several days. Now, at last, Patroclus’ funeral can be
celebrated in what Achilles sees as a fitting manner. Hector‘s father, King Priam,
emboldened by his grief and aided by Hermes, recovers Hector‘s corpse from Achilles,
and The Iliad ends with Hector‘s funeral during a twelve day truce granted by Achilles.

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Map of Rome
 Virgil
A Roman poet born on October 15, 70 B.C. in
Italy, Virgil is famous for his national epic
which is the Aeneid. Born from a poor family,
the Italian countryside served as his influence
for having an impact for poetry. He spent his
education in Milan and Rome studying Greek
and Roman authors and poets. The civil war in
the Roman Republic has greatly affected Virgil
deeply, that is why fear is noticeable in his
texts.
Virgil was never married, he was known for
being attracted to men. His behaviour was also
the reason why he chose not to associate
himself with the state. He decided to travel to
Greece to complete Aeneid for the next three years. Throughout his journey, he caught
a fever and returned to Italy. He died September 21, 19 B.C. after his arrival. Aeneid
was supposed to be destroyed, as per Virgil’s request, but Augustus opposed it.

Virgil Biography. (2019, July 19). Retrieved from: https://www.biography.com/writer/virgil

Aeneid
Epic
The action begins with the Trojan fleet, led by Aeneas, in the eastern Mediterranean,
heading towards Italy on a voyage to find a second home, in accordance with the
prophecy that Aeneas will give rise to a noble and courageous race in Italy, which is
destined to become known throughout the world.
The goddess Juno, however, is still wrathful at being overlooked by the judgment
of Paris in favour of Aeneas‘s mother, Venus, and also because her favourite city,
Carthage, is destined to be destroyed by Aeneas‘ descendants, and because the Trojan
prince Ganymede was chosen to be the cup-bearer to the gods, replacing Juno’s own
daughter, Hebe. For all these reasons, Juno bribes Aeolus, god of the winds, with the
offer of Deiopea (the loveliest of all the sea nymphs) as a wife, and Aeolus releases the
winds to stir up a huge storm, which devastates Aeneas’ fleet.
Although himself no friend of the Trojans, Neptune is infuriated by Juno’s intrusion into
his domain, and stills the winds and calms the waters, allowing the fleet to take shelter
on the coast of Africa, near Carthage, a city recently founded by Phoenician refugees
from Tyre. Aeneas, after encouragement from his mother, Venus, soon gains the favour
of Dido, Queen of Carthage.
At a banquet in honour of the Trojans, Aeneas recounts the events which led upto their
arrival, beginning shortly after the events described in “The Iliad”. He tells of how the
crafty Ulysses (Odysseus in Greek) devised a plan for Greek warriors to gain entry into
Troy by hiding in a large wooden horse. The Greeks then pretended to sail away,
leaving Sinon to tell the Trojans that the horse was an offering and that if it were taken
into the city, the Trojans would be able to conquer Greece. The Trojan priest, Laocoön,
saw through the Greek plot and urged the horse’s destruction, but he and both his sons
were attacked and eaten by two giant sea snakes in an apparently divine intervention.
The Trojans brought the wooden horse inside the city walls, and after nightfall the
armed Greeks emerged and began to slaughter the city’s inhabitants. Aeneas valiantly
tried to fight off the enemy, but he soon lost his comrades and was was advised by his
mother, Venus, to flee with his family. Although his wife, Creusa, was killed in the
melée, Aeneas managed to escape with his son, Ascanius, and his father, Anchises.
Rallying the other Trojan survivors, he built a fleet of ships, making landfall at various
locations in the Mediterranean, notably Aenea in Thrace, Pergamea in Crete and
Buthrotum in Epirus. Twice they attempted to build a new city, only to be driven away by
bad omens and plagues. They were cursed by the Harpies (mythical creatures that are
part woman and part bird), but they also unexpectedly encountered friendly countrymen.
In Buthrotum, Aeneas met Hector’s widow, Andromache, as well as Hector‘s brother,
Helenus, who had the gift of prophecy. Helenus prophesied that Aeneas should seek
out the land of Italy (also known as Ausonia or Hesperia), where his descendants would
not only prosper, but in time would come to rule the entire known world. Helenus also
advised him to visit the Sibyl in Cumae, and Aeneas and his fleet set off towards Italy,
making first landfall in Italy at Castrum Minervae. However, on rounding Sicily and
making for the mainland, Juno raised up a storm which drove the fleet back across the
sea to Carthage in North Africa, thus bringing Aeneas’ story up to date.
Through the machinations of Aeneas’ mother Venus, and her son, Cupid, Queen
Dido of Carthage falls madly in love with Aeneas, even though she had previously
sworn fidelity to her late husband, Sychaeus (who had been murdered by her brother
Pygmalion). Aeneas is inclined to return Dido‘s love, and they do become lovers for a
time. But, when Jupiter sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty and his destiny, he
has no choice but to leave Carthage. Heart-broken, Dido commits suicide by stabbing
herself on a funeral pyre with Aeneas’ own sword, predicting in her death throes eternal
strife between Aeneas’ people and hers. Looking back from the deck of his
ship, Aeneas sees the smoke of Dido‘s funeral pyre and knows its meaning only too
clearly. However, destiny calls him, and the Trojan fleet sails on towards Italy.
They return to Sicily to hold funeral games in honour of Aeneas’ father, Anchises, who
had died before Juno’s storm blew them off course. Some of the Trojan women, tired of
the seemingly endless voyage, begin to burn the ships, but a downpour puts the fires
out. Aeneas is sympathetic, though, and some of the travel-weary are allowed to stay
behind in Sicily.
Eventually, the fleet lands on the mainland of Italy, and Aeneas, with the guidance of
the Sibyl of Cumae, descends into the underworld to speak with the spirit of his father,
Anchises. He is given a prophetic vision of the destiny of Rome, which helps him to
better understand the importance of his mission. On returning to the land of the living, at
the end of Book VI, Aeneas leads the Trojans to settle in the land of Latium, where he is
welcomed and begins to court Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus.
The second half of the poem begins with the break out of war between the Trojans and
the Latins. Although Aeneas has tried to avoid war, Juno had stirred up trouble by
convincing Queen Amata of the Latins that her daughter Lavinia should be married to a
local suitor, Turnus, the king of the Rutuli, and not Aeneas, thus effectively ensuring
war. Aeneas goes to seek military support among the neighbouring tribes who are also
enemies of Turnus, and Pallas, son of King Evander of Arcadia, agrees to lead troops
against the other Italians. However, while the Trojan leader is away, Turnus sees his
opportunity to attack, and Aeneas returns to find his countrymen embroiled in battle. A
midnight raid leads to the tragic deaths of Nisus and his companion Euryalus, in one of
the most emotional passages in the book.
In the battle that follows, many heroes are killed, notably Pallas, who is killed by Turnus;
Mezentius (Turnus’ friend, who had inadvertently allowed his son to be killed while he
himself fled), who is killed by Aeneas in single combat; and Camilla, a sort of Amazon
character devoted to the goddess Diana, who fights bravely but is eventually killed,
which leads to the man who killed her being struck dead by Diana’s sentinel, Opis.
A short-lived truce is called and a hand-to-hand duel is proposed between Aeneas and
Turnus in order to spare any further unnecessary carnage. Aeneas would have easily
won, but the truce is broken first and full-scale battle resumes. Aeneas is injured in the
thigh during the fighting, but he returns to the battle shortly afterwards.
When Aeneas makes a daring attack on the city of Latium itself (causing Queen Amata
to hang herself in despair), he forces Turnus into single combat once more. In a
dramatic scene, Turnus’ strength deserts him as he tries to hurl a rock, and he is struck
by Aeneas‘ spear in the leg. Turnus begs on his knees for his life, and Aeneas is
tempted to spare him until he sees that Turnus is wearing the belt of his friend Pallas as
a trophy. The poem ends with Aeneas, now in a towering rage, killing Turnus.

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