MODULE II

LESSON 1- INTRODUCTION TO WORLD LITERATURE

What is Literature?
Literature, a body of written works. The name has traditionally been applied to those
imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the
perceived aesthetic excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a
variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject
matter.
Definitions of the word literature tend to be circular. The 11th edition of Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary considers literature to be “writings having excellence of form or
expression and expressing ideas of permanent or universal interest.” The 19th-century
critic Walter Pater referred to “the matter of imaginative or artistic literature” as a “transcript, not
of mere fact, but of fact in its infinitely varied forms.” But such definitions assume that the
reader already knows what literature is. And indeed its central meaning, at least, is clear enough.
Deriving from the Latin littera, “a letter of the alphabet,” literature is first and foremost
humankind’s entire body of writing; after that it is the body of writing belonging to a given
language or people; then it is individual pieces of writing.
What is World Literature?
World literature is the totality of all national literatures. The formation of literature in different
countries happened not at the same time, which is connected with the emergence of writing and
artistic creativity. Each nation`s literature has its own artistic and national features.

World literature is very important for studying, still the literature of one country develops
together with other national literatures. They enrich each other borrowing certain literary
elements. There are a lot of scientific works on world literature, which explain the peculiarities
of this phenomenon. As a concept, world literature emerged only in the 19 th century when the
literary connections of different countries had spread and strengthened.

The term “world literature” was introduced by Jogann Wolfgang von Goethe. He used the word
“Weltliteratur” in 1827. Goethe studied the characteristic features and interrelationships of
different national literatures, the tendencies of their development and their achievements. He
studied the works of famous writers which presented different literary phenomena of different
historic periods.

He claimed that literature shouldn`t be restrained by national boundaries. In 1894 the world saw
the first book about world literature – “The history of world literature”. The world literature
emerged because of the development of global economic and cultural relations. This global
literary process was also caused by the rapid development of national literatures. In the history of
world literature we define several stages of its development such as the literature of Bronze Age,

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Classical literature, Early Medieval literature, Medieval Literature, Early Modern and Modern
literature.

World literature is the cultural heritage of all humanity. It is essential to study world literature as
it helps us understand the life of different people from all over the world, forms our world-
outlook and acquaints us with the masterpieces of literature.

What are the Periods of World Literature?

Early Periods of Literature
These periods are spans of time in which literature shared intellectual, linguistic, religious, and
artistic influences. In the Western tradition, the early periods of literary history are roughly as
follows below:
A. THE CLASSICAL PERIOD (1200 BCE - 455 CE)
1. HOMERIC or HEROIC PERIOD (1200-800 BCE) Greek legends are passed along orally,
including Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. This is a chaotic period of warrior-prince
wandering sea-traders, and fierce pirates.
2. CLASSICAL GREEK PERIOD (800-200 BCE) Greek writers and philosophers such as
Gorgias, Aesop. Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Euripides, and Sophocles. The fifth century (499-400
BCE) in particular is renowned as The Golden Age of Greece. This is the sophisticated period of
the polis, or individual City-State, and early democracy. Some of the world's finest art, poetry,
drama, architecture, and philosophy originate in Athens.
3. CLASSICAL ROMAN PERIOD (200 BCE-455 CE) Greece's culture gives way to Roman
power when Rome conquers Greece in 146 CE. The Roman Republic was traditionally founded
in 509 BCE, but it is limited in size until later. Playwrights of this time include Plautus and
Terence. After nearly 500 years as a Republic, Rome slides into dictatorship under Julius Caesar
and finally into a monarchial empire under Caesar Augustus in 27 CE. This later period is known
as the Roman Imperial period. Roman writers include Ovid, Horace, and Virgil. Roman
philosophers include Marcus Aurelius and Lucretius. Roman rhetoricians include Cicero and
Quintilian.
4. PATRISTIC PERIOD (c. 70 CE-455 CE) Early Christian writings appear such as Saint
Augustine, Tertullian, Saint Cyprian, Saint Ambrose and Saint Jerome. This is the period in
which Saint Jerome first compiles the Bible, when Christianity spread across Europe, and the
Roman Empire suffered its dying convulsions. In this period, barbarians attack Rome in 410 CE
and the city finally falls to them completely in 455 CE.
B. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD (455 CE-1485 CE)
1. THE OLD ENGLISH (ANGLO-SAXON) PERIOD (428-1066) The so-called "Dark Ages"
(455 CE - 799 CE) occur when Rome falls and barbarian tribes move into Europe. Franks,
Ostrogoths, Lombards, and Goths settle in the ruins of Europe and the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes
migrate to Britain, displacing native Celts into Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Early Old English

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poems such as Beowulf, The Wanderer, and The Seafarer originate sometime late in the
AngloSaxon period. The Carolingian Renaissance (800- 850 CE) emerges in Europe. In central
Europe, texts include early medieval grammars, encyclopedias, etc. In northern Europe, this time
period marks the setting of Viking sagas.
2. THE MIDDLE ENGLISH PERIOD (c. 1066-1450 CE) In 1066, Norman French armies
invade and conquer England under William I. This marks the end of the Anglo- Saxon hierarchy
and the emergence of the Twelfth Century Renaissance (c. 1100-1200 CE). French chivalric
romances--such as works by Chretien de Troyes--and French fables--such as the works of Marie
de France and Jeun de Meun--spread in popularity. Abelard and other humanists produce great
scholastic and theological works.
LATE OR "HIGH" MEDIEVAL PERIOD(c. 1200-1485 CE): This often tumultuous period
is marked by the Middle English writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the "Gawain" or "Pearl" Poet, the
Wakefield Master, and William Langland. Other writers include Italian and French authors like
Boccaccio, Petrarch, Dante, and Christine de Pisan.
C. THE RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION (c. 1485-1660 CE) The Renaissance takes place in the late
15th, 16th, and early 17th century in Britain, but somewhat earlier in Italy and the southern
Europe, somewhat later in northern Europe.
1. EARLY TUDOR PERIOD (1485-1558): The War of the Roses ends in England with Henry
Tudor (Henry VII) claiming the throne. Martin Luther's split with Rome marks the emergence of
Protestantism, followed by Henry VIII's Anglican schism, which creates the first Protestant
church in England. Edmond Spencer is a sample poet.
2. ELIZABETHAN PERIOD (1558-1603): Queen Elizabeth saves England from both Spanish
invasion and internal squabbles at home. Her reign is marked by the early works of Shakespeare,
Marlowe, Kydd, and Sidney.
3. JACOBEAN PERIOD (1603-1625): Shakespeare's later work, AemiliaLanyer, Ben Jonson,
and John Donne.
4. CAROLINE AGE (1625-1649): John Milton, George Herbert, Robert Herrick, the "Sons of
Ben" and others write during the reign of Charles I and his Cavaliers (The Cavalier Poets). 5.
COMMONWEALTH PERIOD OR PURITAN INTERREGNUM (1649-1660): Under
Cromwell's Puritan dictatorship, John Milton continues to write, but we also find writers like
Andrew Marvell and Sir Thomas Browne.

Later Periods of Literature

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These periods are spans of time in which literature shared intellectual, linguistic, religious, and
artistic influences. In the Western tradition, the later periods of literary history are roughly as
follows below:
D. THE ENLIGHTENMENT (NEOCLASSICAL) PERIOD(C. 1660-1790) "Neoclassical"
refers to the increased influence of Classical literature upon these centuries. The Neoclassical
Period is also called the "Enlightenment" due to the increased reverence for logic and disdain for
superstition. The period is marked by the rise of Deism, intellectual backlash against earlier
Puritanism, and America's revolution against England.
1. RESTORATION PERIOD (c. 1660-1700): This period marks the British king's restoration
to the throne after a long period of Puritan domination in England. Its symptoms include the
dominance of French and Classical influences on poetry and drama. Sample writers include John
Dryden, John Lock, Sir William Temple, and Samuel Pepys, and AphraBehn in England.
Abroad, representative authors include Jean Racine and Molière.
2. THE AUGUSTAN AGE (c. 1700-1750): This period is marked by the imitation of Virgil and
Horace's literature in English letters. The principal English writers include Addison, Steele,
Swift, and Alexander Pope. Abroad, Voltaire is the dominant French writer.
3. THE AGE OF JOHNSON (c. 1750-1790): This period marks the transition toward the
upcoming Romanticism though the period is still largely Neoclassical. Major writers include Dr.
Samuel Johnson, Boswell, and Edward Gibbon who represent the Neoclassical tendencies, while
writers like Robert Burns, Thomas Gray, Cowper, and Crabbe show movement away from the
Neoclassical ideal. In America, this period is called the Colonial Period. It includes colonial and
revolutionary writers like Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and Thomas Paine.
E. ROMANTIC PERIOD (c. 1790-1830) Romantic poets write about nature, imagination, and
individuality in England. Some Romantics include Coleridge, Blake, Keats, and Shelley in
Britain and Johann von Goethe in Germany. In America, this period is called the Transcendental
Period. Transcendentalists include Emerson and Thoreau. Gothic writings, (c. 1790-1890)
overlap with the Romantic and Victorian periods. Writers of Gothic novels (the precursor to
horror novels) include Mary Shelley, Radcliffe, Monk Lewis, and Victorians like Bram Stoker in
Britain. In America, Gothic writers include Poe and Hawthorne.
F. VICTORIAN PERIOD And The 19th Century (c. 1832-1901) Writing during the period of
Queen Victoria's reign includes sentimental novels. British writers include Elizabeth Browning,
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters,
and Jane Austen. Pre- Raphaelites, like the Rossettis and William Morris, idealize and long for
the morality of the medieval world. The end of the Victorian Period is marked by intellectual
movements of Asceticism and "the Decadence" in the writings of Walter Pater and Oscar Wilde.
In America, Naturalist writers like Stephen Crane flourish, as do early free verse poets like Walt
Whitman and Emily Dickinson.
G. MODERN PERIOD (c. 1914-1945) In Britain, modernist writers include W. B. Yeats,
Seamus Heaney, Dylan Thomas, W. H. Auden, Virginia Woolf, and Wilfred Owen. In America,

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the modernist period includes Robert Frost and Flannery O'Connor as well as the famous writers
of The Lost Generation (also called the writers of The Jazz Age, 1914-1929) such as
Hemingway, Steinbeck, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. "The Harlem Renaissance" marks the rise of
black writers such as Baldwin and Ellison. Realism is the dominant fashion, but the
disillusionment with the World Wars lead to new experimentation.
H. POSTMODERN PERIOD (c. 1945 onward) T. S. Eliot, Morrison, Shaw, Beckett,
Stoppard, Fowles, Calvino, Ginsberg, Pynchon, and other modern writers, poets, and playwrights
experiment with metafiction and fragmented poetry. Multiculturalism leads to increasing
canonization of non-Caucasian writers such as Langston Hughes, Sandra Cisneros, and Zora
Neal Hurston. Magic Realists such as Gabriel GarcíaMárquez, Luis Borges, AlejoCarpentier,
Günter Grass, and Salman Rushdie flourish with surrealistic writings embroidered in the
conventions of realism.
____________
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/art/literature
https://ozzz.org/world-literature/
http://saisd001jdebolt1.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/66562957/literary_periods
https://sites.google.com/site/zeebsenglisheducation/literaryperiods
http://staff.gps.edu/gaither/literary_movements.htm

LESSON 2- THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH

The Epic of Gilgamesh is one of the great works of literature, and one of the oldest. It was first
composed in ancient Mesopotamia during the early second millennium BC, in the  Akkadian language,

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and an excellent translation is given by Andrew George (Penguin Classics 1999). The narrative is divided
into eleven books comprising about 3,000 lines in total.

It is a story of love and comradeship, arrogance and uncertainty, wisdom and folly, impetuosity and
determination, immortality and the inevitability of death. In Book I, Gilgamesh is introduced as, “He who
saw the deep, the foundations of the land”—a king who has travelled far and learned wisdom and
knowledge of all things. It then describes the great city of Uruk and the walls built by Gilgamesh (Uruk—
Biblical Erech—was once the world’s greatest ancient city, located on the old course of the Euphrates in
southern Iraq). Gilgamesh dominates the city and its people, leaving no young man free to go to his
father, and no young wife free to go to her bridegroom. The citizens plead with the sky god Anu for help,
and their prayers are answered. The gods create a primeval man, Enkidu to be a counterbalance to
Gilgamesh. He is formed from the clay of the ground, somewhere in the outback (the term for
the outback is the Sumerian word Edin—compare with the second creation story of humans in Genesis
2).

A trapper is the first person to come across Enkidu, seeing him as he drinks with the wild animals at their
watering holes. The trapper reports him to Gilgamesh who sends Shamhat the courtesan to tame him.
She lies with Enkidu for a week, after which the animals run from him and he finds he no longer belongs
to the Edin; compare again with Genesis 2 where Adam and Eve can no longer stay in Eden.

When Enkidu hears, from a passing wedding guest, that Gilgamesh takes the young brides for himself on
their wedding night, he goes to Uruk to challenge him. They wrestle one another to a standstill, after
which they become bosom friends, and Gilgamesh introduces Enkidu to his mother Ninsun. When she
points out that he has no kith and kin, Enkidu bursts into tears, and Gilgamesh proposes a great
distraction for them both—they will undertake an epic journey to the great cedar forest where they will
challenge Humbaba, the guardian placed there by the god Enlil. Enkidu advises against this venture,
knowing as he does the terrifying nature of Humbaba (compare with the guardian of Eden in Genesis
3:24), but Gilgamesh is determined on it. Ninsun prays to the sun god Shamash to protect her son, and
takes Enkidu as an adopted son who will protect his new brother.

Giant weapons are cast for the two of them before setting out. They march in three days a distance that
would take normal men a month and a half, and each day they pitch a tent to the dream god. Gilgamesh
dreams fearful dreams, but Enkidu always interprets them as good omens. When they reach the forest
they marvel at the tall cedars, but Shamash the sun-god quickly persuades them to challenge Humbaba
while he is still unprepared, protected by only one of his seven auras. With help from the thirteen winds,
they pin him down, and then have a dilemma. Gilgamesh does not wish to kill Humbaba, but Enkidu is
adamant that they kill or be killed. Humbaba pleads for his life, and Gilgamesh hesitates. But Enkidu
persists, and Humbaba curses him, a curse, like that of the Cyclops in the Odyssey, having ominous
consequences.

After slaying Humbaba, Gilgamesh and Enkidu take down the tallest cedar in the forest to build a great
door to the god Enlil. They return to Uruk where Ishtar the goddess of love hears of the heroic deed and
comes to ask Gilgamesh to be her husband. He replies by describing the sorry end of her previous lovers,
and rejects her in no uncertain terms. Ishtar is furious and goes to her father Anu demanding the Bull of
Heaven to wreak vengeance against Gilgamesh. She threatens to open the gates of the Netherworld if
he will not agree to her demand, so Anu gives in and she takes the bull to Uruk to destroy the city. Every

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time it snorts a huge pit opens up and scores of men fall in, but Gilgamesh and Enkidu battle the bull.
They kill it, and Enkidu throws a part of its body at Ishtar. This brings us half way through the story, to
the end of book VI.

In book VII, Enkidu dreams that the gods have decided to punish the two of them by killing him. In an
extraordinary passage he talks to the door that they made for Enlil, and curses Shamhat the harlot who
has brought him into civilization. He tells her how the highways will be her home, everyone will insult
her and the drunkard will vomit over her. But Shamash the sun god, the god of justice, who in Enkidu’s
dream spoke up for him in the assembly of the gods, calls from the sky, and Enkidu changes the fate he
has uttered against Shamhat; princes will honour her, every type of man will desire her, and she will
receive precious gifts and jewellery. Then Enkidu returns to his dream where he is dragged to the
Netherworld, and after many days of sickness he dies.

Gilgamesh is distraught. He calls for the animals of the wild to mourn Enkidu, for the river Euphrates to
weep for Enkidu, for the elders of the city to mourn, for the young men to mourn, for the ploughman at
his plough to mourn, and finally Gilgamesh himself mourns. He lays Enkidu out on a great bed, and has
expert craftsmen build a magnificent statue to him. He mourns for days, and only when a maggot falls
from Enkidu’s nostril, will he have him buried. Then Gilgamesh leaves to roam the wild.

Gilgamesh now understands his own mortality, and decides to seek out the immortal, Uta-napishti from
whom he might learn the secret of life without death. After fighting with lions he reaches the twin
mountains where the sun rises and sets. The scorpion men who guard the mountains ask his business,
and warn that his journey is impossible. They tell him he will not get through the darkness inside the
mountains, but they let him pass, and he travels a mysterious path in which he races the sun itself,
coming out just ahead before dawn. Gilgamesh now finds himself in a land where the trees and bushes
blossom with gemstones.

At the beginning of book X, Gilgamesh arrives at a tavern at the edges of the world, kept by Shiduri. She
is wrapped in wraps and enshawled in shawls—a mysterious woman who is at first fearful of this wild
looking man. He tells his tale, explaining why he looks so haggard, and asks her the way to Uta-napishti.
She says it is impossible to reach there, that only the sun god Shamash can cross the waters to Uta-
napishti, and in the midst of the journey are the waters of death. When Gilgamesh insists, she tells him
to find Ur-shanabi the ferryman for Uta-napishti. This man is in the woods with “those of stone”, and
Gilgamesh falls in a fury on these mysterious stone ones, destroying them. When Ur-shanabi asks him
why he is so wild he explains, as he did to Shiduri, about the death of his friend Enkidu. He is now
seeking Uta-napishti to learn the secret of how to avoid death, and Ur-shanabi tells him he just
destroyed the method of getting there when he smashed the stone ones. He commands Gilgamesh to
cut down three hundred saplings to use as punting poles, and when all is ready they depart.

They sail, and in three days cover the journey of a month and a half, just as Gilgamesh and Enkidu did in
taking the path to Humbaba’s cedar forest. At the waters of death, they use the punting poles, and
finally, with Gilgamesh using his shirt as a sail, they reach the land of Uta-napishti. Gilgamesh tells Uta-
napishti of his exploits, but receives the response that he is being foolish. As a king he should be taking
care of his people, yet he seeks the impossible. Death is unavoidable; no-one sees the face of death or
hears the voice of death, but it cuts each one down. The gods have assigned mortality to mankind, and it
cannot be changed. Thus ends book X.

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As book XI starts, Uta-napishti reveals a secret to Gilgamesh. He tells him the story of the flood. The
gods sent a flood to destroy the human race, but one god, Ea spoke to a reed fence giving instructions
on how to build a suitable boat. Uta-napishti heard the words of Ea, and saved himself, his family and all
living things. The flood was upon the earth for six days and seven nights. On the seventh day the boat
came to rest on a mountain, and he sent forth three birds in succession: a dove, a swallow, and a raven
(compare with the flood story in Genesis 8 where the three birds were raven, dove and dove, in that
order). The first two came back, and finally the raven flew off.

When Uta-napishti disembarked he made an offering to the gods, and when the mother goddess arrived
she regretted the loss of human life, saying her necklace of flies would always remind her of this terrible
event where humans lay on the surface of the water like flies (compare the rainbow in Genesis 9).
However, the god Enlil, who originally sent the flood, was furious that anyone had survived, and it took
the wise god Ea to persuade him that the ever-increasing multitude of people could be kept in check in
various other ways. This suggests that the reason for sending the flood was the noise and clamour of
human beings (compare with the Biblical story in which it was the iniquity of mankind that caused God
to destroy everyone but Noah and his family). The noise of mankind is precisely the reason given in
another ancient Mesopotamian story called Atrahasis (The Supersage), telling of the creation of humans
and the great flood (in the Gilgamesh Epic, the Supersage is named Uta-napishti). Enlil accepts Ea’s idea
and blesses Uta-napishti and his wife, conferring immortality on them so that they should be like gods
and dwell far off.

When Uta-napishti has related this story, he tells Gilgamesh that if he seeks immortality he must first
conquer sleep by staying awake for six days and seven nights. Gilgamesh immediately falls asleep, and
as he sleeps, Uta-napishti has his wife bake bread every day and set it in front of Gilgamesh. When
Gilgamesh finally awakes, saying he barely fell asleep, Uta-napishti is able to show him how each loaf of
bread has gone stale, one worse than the next, proving that he has slept for six days and seven nights. If
he cannot beat sleep he cannot beat death, and Gilgamesh now accepts the inevitable.

As for Ur-shanabi, the quayside will now reject him, the ferry will reject him, and his days of immortality
are over. Uta-napishti sends him to bath Gilgamesh, give him new clothes, and then together the two of
them will go to Uruk. Before they leave, however, Uta-napishti’s wife intervenes to plead that Gilgamesh
not be sent away empty-handed, so Uta-napishti tells Gilgamesh a second secret. He tells him of a plant
that will rejuvenate life. It grows beneath the sweet waters under the earth, so Gilgamesh ties stones to
his feet and dives down to bring up the plant, and then leaves with Ur-shanabi.

They move at great speed, as did Gilgamesh and Enkidu on the way to the cedar forest. On the way,
Gilgamesh bathes and a snake steals the plant, swallows it and rejuvenates itself by sloughing its skin.
Gilgamesh has lost his one chance of eternal youthfulness, and returns to Uruk with nothing but his
experience, and his companion Ur-shanabi to whom he proudly shows the great city walls that he once
built. As king of the greatest city in the world, Gilgamesh has seen the deep and learned the wisdom to
accept his lot.

_____

Source:

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http://www.markronan.com/languages/gilgamesh/gilgamesh-full/

Video supplement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x3iE0-RhWM

LESSON 3- THE ILIAD AND ODESSEY

The Iliad
“The Iliad“ (Gr: “Iliás“) is an epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Homer, which recounts some of
the significant events of the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy (which
was also known as Ilion, Ilios or Ilium in ancient times). Written in the mid-8th Century BCE, “The

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Iliad” is usually considered to be the earliest work in the whole Western literary tradition, and one of
the best known and loved stories of all time.

Through its portayal of the epic subject matter of the Trojan War, the stirring scenes of bloody battle,
the wrath of Achilles and the constant interventions of the gods, it explores themes of
glory, wrath, homecoming and fate, and has provided subjects and stories for many other later Greek,
Roman and Renaissance writings.

Synopsis – Iliad Summary

The story covered by “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,  Hectr finds the disguised

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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.

Analysis

Although attributed to Homer, “The Iliad” is clearly dependent on an older oral tradition and may well
have been the collective inheritance of many singer-poets over a long period of time (the historical Fall
of Troy is usually dated to around the start of the 12th Century BCE).  Homer was probably one of the
first generation of authors who were also literate, as the Greek alphabet was introduced in the early 8th
Century BCE, and the language used in his epic poems is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with
admixtures from certain other dialects such as Aeolic Greek. However, it is by no means certain
that Homer himself (if in fact such a man ever really existed) actually wrote down the verses.

“The Iliad” was part of a group of ancient poems known as the “Epic Cycle”, most of which are now
lost to us, which dealt with the history of the Trojan War and the events surrounding it. Whether or not
they were written down, we do know that Homer‘s poems (along with others in the “Epic Cycle”) were
recited in later days at festivals and ceremonial occasions by professional singers called “rhapsodes“,
who beat out the measure with rhythm staffs.

“The Iliad” itself does not cover the early events of the Trojan War, which had been launched ten
years before the events described in the poem in order to rescue Helen, the wife of King Menelaus of
Sparta, after her abduction by the Trojan prince, Paris. Likewise, the death of Achilles and the eventual
fall of Troy are not covered in the poem, and these matters are the subjects of other (non-
Homeric) “Epic Cycle” poems, which survive only in fragments. “The Odyssey”, a separate work also
by Homer, narrates Odysseus‘ decade-long journey home to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War.

The poem consists of twenty-four scrolls, containing 15,693 lines of dactylic hexameter verse. The entire
poem has a formal rhythm that is consistent throughout (making it easier to memorize) and yet varied
slightly from line to line (preventing it from being monotonous). Many phrases, sometimes whole
passages, are repeated verbatim over and over again throughout “The Iliad”, partly to fulfill the
demands of the metre and partly as part of the formulaic oral tradition. In the same way, many of the
descriptive phrases that are linked with a certain character (such as “swift-footed Achilles“, “Diomedes
of the great war cry“, “Hector of the shining helm”, and “Agamemnon the lord of men”) match the
number of syllables in a hero’s name, and are repeated regularly to the extent that they almost seem to
become part of the characters’ names themselves.

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The immortal gods and goddesses are portrayed as characters in “The Iliad”, displaying individuality
and will in their actions, but they are also stock religious figures, sometimes allegorical, sometimes
psychological, and their relation to humans is extremely complex. They are often used as a way of
explaining how or why an event took place, but they are also sometimes used as comic relief from the
war, mimicking, parodying and mocking mortals. Indeed, it is often the gods, not the mortals, who seem
casual, petty and small-minded.

The main theme of the poem is that of war and peace, and the whole poem is essentially a description
of war and fighting. There is a sense of horror and futility built into Homer‘s chronicle, and yet, posed
against the viciousness, there is a sense of heroism and glory that adds a glamour to the
fighting: Homer appears both to abhor war and to glorify it. Frequent similes tell of the peacetime
efforts back home in Greece, and serve as contrasts to the war, reminding us of the human values that
are destroyed by fighting, as well as what is worth fighting for.

The concept of heroism, and the honour that results from it, is also one of the major currents running
through the poem. Achilles in particular represents the heroic code and his struggle revolves around his
belief in an honour system, as opposed to Agamemnon‘s reliance on royal privilege. But, as fighter after
heroic fighter enters the fray in search of honour and is slain before our eyes, the question always
remains as to whether their struggle, heroic or not, is really worth the sacrifice.

“Menin“or “menis“ (“anger“ or “wrath“) is the word that opens “The Iliad”, and one of the major
themes of the poem is Achilles coming to terms with his anger and taking responsibility for his actions
and emotions.

Resources

English translation by Samuel Butler with popup notes and commentary

(eNotes): http://www.enotes.com/iliad-text

Greek version with word-by-word translation (Perseus

Project): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0133

Detailed book-by-book summary

(About.com): http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/iliad/a/Iliad.html

The Odyssey

“The Odyssey” (Gr: “Odysseia”) is the second of the two epic poems attributed to the ancient Greek

poet Homer (the first being “The Iliad”), and usually considered the second extant work of Western
literature. It was probably composed near the end of the 8th Century BCE and is, in part, a sequel

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to “The Iliad”. It is widely recognized as one of the great stories of all time, and has been a strong
influence on later European, especially Renaissance, literature.

The poem focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses, as he was known in Roman myths) and his
long journey home to Ithaca following the fall of Troy. His adventure-filled ten year journey took him
through the Ionian Islands and the Peloponnese and as far away as Egypt and North Africa and the
western Mediteranean, as the displeased sea-god Poseidon prevented him from reaching his home.

Synopsis – Odyssey summary

Ten years after the Fall of Troy, and twenty years after the Greek hero Odysseus first set out from his
home in Ithaca to fight with the other Greeks against the Trojans, Odysseus’ son Telemachus and his
wife Penelope are beset with over a hundred suitors who are trying to persuade Penelope that her
husband is dead and that she should marry one of them.

Encouraged by the goddess Athena (always Odysseus’ protector), Telemachus sets out to look for his
father, visiting some of Odysseus’ erstwhile companions such as Nestor, Menelaus and Helen, who have
long since arrived home. They receive him sumptuously and recount the ending of the Trojan War,
including the story of the wooden horse. Menelaus tells Telemachus that he has heard that Odysseus is
being held captive by the nymph Calypso.

The scene then changes to Calypso’s island, where Odysseus has spent seven years in captivity. Calypso
is finally persuaded to release him by Hermes and Zeus, but Odysseus’ makeshift boat is wrecked by his
nemesis Poseidon, and he swims ashore onto an island. He is found by the young Nausicaa and her
handmaidens and is made welcome by King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, and begins to
tell the amazing story of his return from Troy.

Odysseus tells how he and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms, and how they visited
the lethargic Lotus-Eaters with their memory-erasing food, before being captured by the giant one-eyed
cyclops Polyphemus (Poseidon’s son), only escaping after he blinded the giant with a wooden stake.
Despite the help of Aeolus, King of the Winds, Odysseus and his crew were blown off course again just
as home was almost in sight. They narrowly escaped from the cannibal Laestrygones, only to encounter
the witch-goddess Circe soon after. Circe turned half of his men into swine, but Odysseus had been pre-
warned by Hermes and made resistant to Circe’s magic.

After a year of feasting and drinking on Circe’s island, the Greeks again set off, reaching the western
edge of the world. Odysseus made a sacrifice to the dead and summoned the spirit of the old
prophet Tiresias to advise him, as well as the spirits of several other famous men and women and that of
his own mother, who had died of grief at his long absence and who gave him disturbing news of the
situation in his own household.

Advised once more by Circe on the remaining stages of their journey, they skirted the land of the Sirens,
passed between the many-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, and, blithely ignoring the
warnings of Tiresias and Circe, hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. For this sacrilege,
they were punished by a shipwreck in which all but Odysseus himself drowned. He was washed ashore
on Calypso’s island, where she compelled him to remain as her lover.

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By this point, Homer has brought us up to date, and the remainder of the story is told straightforwardly
in chronological order.

Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians agree to help  Odysseus get home, and
they finally deliver him one night to a hidden harbour on his  home island of Ithaca. Disguised as a
wandering beggar and telling a fictitious tale of himself, Odysseus learns from a local swineherd how
things stand in his household. Through Athena’s machinations, he meets up with his own
son, Telemachus, just returning from Sparta, and they agree together that the insolent and increasingly
impatient suitors must be killed. With more help from Athena, an archery competition is arranged
by Penelope for the suitors, which the disguised Odysseus easily wins, and he then promptly slaughters
all the other suitors.

Only now does Odysseus reveal and prove his true identity to his wife and to his old father, Laertes.
Despite the fact that Odysseus has effectively killed two generations of the men of Ithaca (the
shipwrecked sailors and the executed suitors), Athena intervenes one last time and finally Ithaca is at
peace once more.

Analysis

Like “The Iliad”, “The Odyssey” is attributed to the Greek epic poet Homer, although it was probably
written later than “The Iliad”, in Homer’s mature years, possibly around 725 BCE. Also like “The Iliad”, it
was clearly composed in an oral tradition, and was probably intended more to be sung than read,
probably accompanied by a simple stringed instrument which was strummed for an occasional rhythmic
accent. It is written in Homeric Greek (an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain
other dialects such as Aeolic Greek), and comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter verse, usually
divided up into 24 books.

Many copies of the poem have come down to us (for example, a survey of all surviving Egyptian papyri
carried out in 1963 found that nearly half of the 1,596 individual “books” were copies of  “The
Iliad” or “The Odyssey” or commentaries on them). There are interesting parallels between many of the
elements of “The Odyssey” and the much older Sumerian legends in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”. Today, the
word “odyssey” has come to be used in the English language to refer to any epic voyage or extended
wandering.

As in “The Iliad”, Homer makes frequent use of “epithets” in “The Odyssey”, descriptive tags used

regularly to fill out a line of verse as well as to provide detail about character, such as Odysseus “the
raider of cities” and Menelaus “the red-haired captain”. The epithets, as well as repeated background
stories and longer epic similes, are common techniques in the oral tradition, designed to make the job of
the singer-poet a little easier, as well as to remind the audience of important background information.

Compared to “The Iliad”, the poem has many changes of scene and a much more complex plot. It
employs the seemingly modern idea (later imitated by many other authors of literary epics) of starting
the plot at what is chronologically towards the end of the overall story, and describing prior events
through flashbacks or storytelling. This is appropriate, however, as Homer was elaborating on a story
which would have been very familiar to his listeners, and there was little likelihood of his audience being
confused, despite the numerous sub-plots.

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The character of Odysseus embodies many of the ideals the ancient Greeks aspired to: manly valour,
loyalty, piety and intelligence. His intelligence is a mix of keen observation, instinct and street smarts,
and he is a fast, inventive liar, but also extremely cautious. However, he is  also portrayed as very
human – he makes mistakes, gets into tricky situations, loses his temper and is often moved to tears –
and we see him in many roles (as a husband, father and son, but also as an athlete, army captain, sailor,
carpenter, storyteller, ragged beggar, lover, etc).

The other characters are very much secondary, although Odysseus’ son Telemachus shows some growth
and development from a passive, untested boy to a man of valour and action, respectful to gods and
men, and loyal to his mother and father. The first four books of “The Odyssey” are often referred to
as “The Telemachy” as they follow Telemachus’ own journey.

Among the themes explored by “The Odyssey” are those of homecoming, vengeance, the restoration of
order, hospitality, respect for the gods, order and fate, and, perhaps most importantly, loyalty
(Odysseus’ loyalty in persisting in his attempts to return home, even after twenty years,  Telemachus’
loyalty, Penelope’s loyalty and the loyalty of the servants Eurykleia and Eumaios).

Resources

 English translation by Samuel Butler (The Internet Classics

Archive): http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
 Greek version with word-by-word translation (Perseus
Project): http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0135
 Detailed book-by-book summary and translation
(About.com): http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/odyssey1/a/odysseycontents.htm

Readings:
https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_homer_odyssey.html
https://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_homer_iliad.html

Video Supplement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbORIBYykuo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z9FQxcCAZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS4jk5kavy4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faSrRHw6eZ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CnzGXZjwNs&t=305s

LESSON 4-The Mahabharata

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 The Story of the Mahabharata, India's Longest Epic Poem
 Important Texts
 India Past and Present
 Temples and Organizations
 Indian Arts and Culture
 Hindu Gods
 Hindu Gurus and Saints
By Subhamoy Das (Updated September 07, 2018)
The Mahabharata is an ancient Sanskrit epic poem that tells the story of the kingdom of Kurus. It's based
on a real war that took place in the 13th or 14th century B.C. between the Kuru and Panchala tribes of
the Indian subcontinent. It is regarded as both a historical account of Hinduism's birth and a code of
ethics for the faithful.
Background and History
The Mahabharata, also known as the great epic of the Bharata Dynasty, is divided into two books of
more than 100,000 verses, each containing two lines or couplets totaling more than 1.8 million words. It
is roughly 10 times as long as "The Illiad," one of the most notable Western epic poems.

The Hindu holy man Vyasa is generally credited with being the first to compile the Mahabharata,
although the entire text was assembled between the 8th and 9th centuries B.C. and the oldest portions
date back to almost 400 B.C. Vyasa himself appears several times in the Mahabharata.

Synopsis of the Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is divided into 18 parvas or books. The primary narrative follows the five sons of the
deceased King Pandu (the Pandavas) and the 100 sons of blind King Dhritarashtra (the Kauravas), who
opposed each other in war for possession of the ancestral Bharata kingdom on the  Ganga river in north-
central India. The principal figure in the epic is the god Krishna.

Although Krishna is related to both Pandu and Dhritarashtra, he is eager to see war occur between the
two clans and considers Pandu's sons to be his human instruments for fulfilling that end. Leaders of both
clans engage in a dice game, but the game is rigged in the Dhritarashtras' favor and the Pandu clan lose,
agreeing to spend 13 years in exile.

When the period of exile ends and the Pandu clan return, they find that their rivals are unwilling to
share power. As a result, war breaks out. After years of violent conflict, in which both sides commit
numerous atrocities and many clan elders are killed, the Pandavas finally emerge the winners. 

In the years that follow the war, the Pandavas live a life of asceticism in a forest retreat. Krishna is
slaughtered in a drunken brawl and his soul dissolves back into the Supreme God Vishnu. When they
learn of this, the Pandavas believe it time for them to leave this world, too. They embark upon a great
journey, walking north toward heaven, where the dead of both clans will live in harmony.
Multiple subplots weave throughout the epic text, following the numerous characters as they pursue
their own agendas, wrestle with ethical dilemmas and come into conflict with one another. 
Primary Theme

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Much of the action in the Mahabharata is accompanied by discussion and debate among the
text's characters. The most famous sermon, Krishna's pre-war lecture on ethics and divinity to his
follower Arjuna, also known as the Bhagavad Gita, is contained within the epic. 

Several of the important ethical and theological themes of the Mahabharata are tied together in this
sermon, namely the difference between just and unjust warfare. Krishna lays out the proper ways of
attacking a foe, as well as when it is appropriate to use certain weapons and how prisoners of war
should be treated. The importance of family and clan loyalty is another major theme.

Impact on Popular Culture

The Mahabharata has had a profound influence on popular culture, especially in India, both in ancient
and modern times. It was the source of inspiration for "Andha Yug" (in English, "The Blind Epoch"), one
of the most widely produced plays in India in the 20th century and first performed in 1955.  Pratibha Ray,
one of India's most notable female writers, used the epic poem as inspiration for her award-winning
novel "Yajnaseni," first published in 1984.
The Hindu text has also inspired numerous TV shows and movies, including the film
"Mahabharat," which was the most expensive animated film ever produced in India when it was
released in 2013.
Further Reading
The definitive Indian version of the Mahabharata, also known as the critical edition, was compiled over
the course of nearly 50 years in the city of Pune, ending in 1966. Although this is considered the
authoritative Hindu version in India, there are regional variations as well, notably in Indonesia and Iran.
The first and most notable English translation appeared in the last decade of the 1890s and was
compiled by the Indian scholar Kisari Mohan Ganguli. It is the only complete English version available  i
the public domain, although several condensed versions also have been published.

Source:
https://www.learnreligions.com/the-story-of-the-mahabharata-1770167

Video Supplement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXz0mggaAw4

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