Greek Poetry

The Greek Poetry

When you think about ancient Greece you think about the great battles that were fought for thousands of years. Or the great rulers that expanded their empire to the entire known world. Some of us may think about the Greek Gods and the Myths of ancient Greece. But the thing I think about the most is the thing I know the least about their poetry and mainly Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. Two epic pieces of poetry that have changed our view of the ancient civilizations.

Homer brought us a new way of looking at the region. He tells us where Troy is and when we get there and start digging we find a city that resembles what he is portraying to us. Now I know that all the stories in the two Epics are not fact you are left wondering what parts are. Was there an epic battle for troy the likes of which had never been seen before in the world. Or was it more of a skirmish that was passed down over the years and became what we think of it now.

The Iliad and the Odyssey focus on the Trojan War and the aftermath of it. The Iliad tells us of the struggles of the war on both sides. The pettiness of the Greek kings and Achilles the Greeks greatest warrior. On the Trojan side Paris the youngest son of King Priam brings back one of the queens of Greece. When he does the Greek nation falls on Troy. Hector the older of the two Princes of Troy and also the commander of its army takes his bothers back and wages a war against the Greek army. The Odyssey ends with the Greeks pretending to have retreated back to Greece and leaving a giant wooden horse the Poseidon the God of the Ocean to grant them a safe journey home. When the Trojans find it they take it in to their castle. Little did they know they had written their own death certificates. The Greeks were in the horse waiting for the Trojans to sleep and when they did the Greeks came out and took the city.

The Odyssey is the story about Odysseus' journey home after the Trojan War.