Major ancient Greek writers and their works? Major philosophers and historians in ancient Greece and their works?

Homer's Epic and Aesop's Fables.

Thespis, the "father of drama", has the highest drama achievement; Aeschylus, Sophocles and euripides, the "father of tragedy", are the three major tragic writers: the Russian Theia trilogy (Agamemnon, The Dionysian and Nemesis), Beggars and Persians.

Sophocles, the Homer of Dramatic Art: antigone and Oedipus the King.

euripides, the originator of psychological drama: Medea and Trojan Women.

There are mainly three philosophers, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates and his student Plato and Plato's student Aristotle are called "the three sages of Greece" together.

Socrates doesn't seem to have any works. Plato's most important work is the Republic. Aristotle's works are ancient encyclopedias. It is said that there are 4 to 1, books, mainly including Instrumental Theory, Metaphysics, Physics, Ethics, Politics and Poetics.

In ancient Greece, there was no organization or individual specialized in compiling history similar to that in ancient China. Homer's Epic is not a historical work, but a literary work. We can only take it as a reference.

Extended information

Philosophy

Classical Greek philosophy is a summary and reflection of the wisdom of life by ancient Greek philosophers. In the eyes of Greeks, philosophy and science belong to the same category. It mainly focuses on the task of debate and inquiry, which is an important content of philosophy. Classical Greek philosophy has a profound influence on the development of western philosophy, science and religion.

the history of western philosophy began in ancient Greece, especially a group of philosophers known as the pre-Socratic period. This is not a rumor to deny other early philosophers who appeared in ancient Egypt, semitism and Babylonian culture.

It is true that there are great thinkers and writers in every culture, and we have evidence that some of the earliest Greek philosophers may have been exposed to at least some works of Egyptian and Babylonian thought. However, compared with their predecessors, early Greek thinkers added at least one element to distinguish them from their predecessors' thoughts.

For the first time in history, we found in their works that their views on the laws of the world are not dogmatic, but include their various arguments on these theories.

Facts have proved that all kinds of cosmology put forward by almost all early Greek philosophers are extremely and clearly fallacies, but this will not reduce their importance. Because philosophers immediately abandoned the answers assumed by their predecessors, they could not escape the questions raised by their predecessors:

Where did everything come from?

what is it made of?

how do we explain the nature of a large number of things?

why can we describe them with a single mathematics?

The form followed by Greek philosophers and the way to convey their answers become as important as the questions they ask. The philosophers of pre-Socrates rejected the traditional myth's explanation of what they saw around them, and agreed with a more rational explanation. In other words, they rely on inference and observation to clarify the real nature around them, and they use reasonable arguments to highlight their views and tell others.

Although philosophers have argued about the importance scale of rationality and observation, they have basically used the method first invented by the pre-Socratic school for 25 years.

Plato

A very influential classical Greek philosopher, he was taught by Socrates and taught Aristotle. His most famous work, The Republic (Greek: π ο λ ιτ ε? α； English: The Republic) describes his fantasy of a "perfect" country.

He also wrote the Law and many dialogues of Socrates. Plato became a student of Socrates when he was young, and (according to his own account) participated in the interrogation of his teacher, although it was not carried out by him. Unlike Socrates, Plato wrote down his philosophical views and left a considerable number of manuscripts. Please refer to his article for more information.

Aristotle

Aristotle (Greek: α ρ ι ο ο? λη? ; English: Aristotle, known as Aristotle s in most other non-English languages, and Aristotle s in Italian (384 BC-March 7 BC), together with Plato, is known as one of the two people who have an important influence on the western way of thinking.

Aristotle

Although their works are related in many basic aspects, they are quite different in style and theme. Plato wrote dozens of philosophical dialogues (debated in the form of conversation, usually by Socrates as a participant) and a few letters.

Although the early dialogues were mainly about the methods of acquiring knowledge, and most of them ended with the ethics of justice and practice, his most famous works stated a general view on ethics, metaphysics, inference, knowledge and human life.

His outstanding ideas include that the knowledge gained through intuition always leaves confused and impure views, and he is tired of the so-called "a thoughtful mind can get' real' knowledge from the world". Only the soul can grasp the structure of knowledge and the true nature of things, and the world we see is just a copy full of flaws.

such knowledge is not only of ethical importance, but also of scientific importance. We can regard Plato as an idealist and a rationalist.

In contrast, Aristotle pays more attention to acquiring knowledge from the senses, and will get the modern label of empiricist relatively more. Therefore, Aristotle is ready for the future development into the century of scientific methods. Aristotle's works that still exist today appear in the form of papers, and most of them have not been published by the author.

The most important ones include physics, metaphysics, (Nicomachean) ethics, political science, on the soul (above the soul), poetics and many other works.

other classical philosophers

Cicero (Greek: κ? κερο? ; English: Cicero)

Zhi Nuo of Kittion

epiktetos

Epicurus (Greek: ε π? κουρο? ; English: Epicurus and Lucretius

empedocles

Literature and Times

Heroic Age Myth

The 12th century BC to the 8th century BC was the period when the ancient Greek world was in transition from clan commune system to slavery society, which was called "Heroic Age" in history, also known as "Homeric Age", and the main achievement of literature in this period was myth.

Ancient Greek mythology is the spiritual product of primitive clan society, the oral creation created collectively by ancient Greeks, and the earliest literary form in the western world, which was produced before the 8th century BC. It formed a basic scale on the basis of long-term word-of-mouth communication among primitive Greeks, and was fully reflected in the works of Homer, Hersiode and others.

Its geographical location is from the Greek Peninsula in the west, Asia Minor in the east and the vast Aegean Sea in Crete in the south. The content of Greek mythology is a vast and complicated system, with numerous branches and factions, legends and stories, which are not completely consistent. However, it has obvious family color, contains a blood bond, and has a basic context, which can be roughly divided into two parts: the story of God and the legend of heroes.

Gods in Greek mythology, like human beings, are all personified images with lust, good and evil, scheming and blood relationship, which is the theory that gods and human beings are alike. For example, Zeus, the heavenly father, often chased and seduced mortal women, while Hera, his wife, persecuted her rival in love like a jealous woman.

But the difference between gods and human beings is also obvious: they are immortal, can be deformed at will, and each has special skills and great power. Their likes and dislikes play a decisive role in the life and death of human beings in the lower world. Among them, the most prominent gods are the twelve main gods who live on Mount Olympus.

The heroes in the legend of heroes are all descendants of gods and men, demigods and demigods, with extraordinary talents and perseverance. All of them have achieved amazing achievements under the protection of a certain god, reflecting the collective wisdom and strength, and showing the Greek people's praise and yearning for hard work, courage and heroism.

the legend of heroes has formed many systems centering on different families, mainly including the legends of Heraclitus, theseus and Jason.

Greek mythology was gradually formed in a long historical period, and the character, responsibility and story plot of God have developed and changed. It can be said that ancient Greek mythology is the source of the whole western literature, and almost all writers in later generations have drawn nutrients from ancient myths.

Homer's Epic

Homer's Epic is the earliest formal written literary work in the history of western literature. Epic consists of two parts, namely Iliad (translated into Ilion) and Odyssey (translated into Odysseus). According to legend, the author is Homer, a blind poet who lived roughly between the 1th century and the 8th century BC.

Homer's praise

The Iliad ***24 volumes, 15,693 lines, is based on the legend of "the golden apple of discord" in Greek mythology. According to legend, Achilles' parents forgot to invite Eris, the goddess of dispute, when they held their wedding. The angry Nemesis threw a golden apple at the banquet, which read "For the most beautiful woman", which triggered the competition between Hera, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the god of love, and eventually led to the outbreak of the Trojan War.

The epic describes Achilles' anger and what happened in the next 51 days with the plot that Agamemnon, commanded by the Greek Coalition forces, took away the female prisoner loved by Achilles, and Achilles stopped fighting because of anger.

The story of Odyssey took place in the decade immediately after the Trojan War. Odysseus, who presented the Trojan horse to the Greek allied forces in the Trojan War, was killed at sea and stranded in a foreign land because he offended Poseidon, the sea god. Later, he overcame all kinds of difficulties with great heroism and finally went home to reunite with his wife and children.

The theme of Homer's Epic is to praise the glorious historical sites of the Greek nation, praise the good qualities such as courage, justice, selflessness and hard work, eulogize the optimistic spirit of overcoming all difficulties, and affirm the value of people and life. But epic also has a strong fatalism color, and the struggle between people is often the epitome of the struggle between gods. However, the epic rarely makes a value judgment on the war itself, which transcends narrow nationalism.

In terms of language, Homer's Epic has reached a high level, with mature rhetorical skills and reasonable narrative structure. Homer is good at using metaphors to describe characters and depict broad social and historical scenes. Although there is no lack of long and redundant rhetoric, it is the characteristic of all ancient literature.

In this period, besides Homer, Hersiod was also very famous. He lived from the end of the 8th century BC to the beginning of the 7th century BC. His representative works include Oracle poems "Farming and Time" and "Shenpu". His writing style is very similar to Homer's, and there are traces of imitating Homer's Epic in language.

Great Immigrants Lyrics

The 8th century BC to 6th century BC is called the "Great Immigrant Era" in ancient Greek history, and the main literary achievements in this period include lyric poems and fables.

Lyrics in ancient Greece include a variety of themes, mainly divided into two-line poems, satirical poems, piano songs and pastoral songs. Among them, there are many ancient Greek poets who wrote double-line poems. The earliest poet is said to be Kalinos in the first half of the 7th century BC, but Simonides (556-466 BC) is the best at writing this poem. Solon, the founder of Athenian democracy, also wrote many poems.

However, among the lyric poems in ancient Greece, Qin Song is the most successful, which is a kind of song-like poem accompanied by music. Qin songs can be divided into two types, one is solo and the other is chorus.

The representative figure of solo piano songs is the poetess Sappho (612 BC ~? ）。 She was forced into exile in the political struggle between the Democrats in Athens and optimates, and later founded a music school in her hometown of Lesbos. She wrote nine volumes of poems, but only two of them are complete, and the rest are fragmentary. Her

Sappho (Portrait)

language is gorgeous, sentimental and sincere, and her subject matter mostly describes lingering love. For example, her masterpiece To Anak Toria is deeply sad and touching. It is said that Sappho is gay. Many of her poems were publicly burned in Rome and Constantinople in 173. However, in the ancient Greek world, Sappho had a very high status and was once called "the tenth muse" by Plato.

Besides Sappho, Alcaeus and Anacreon are also very good at writing solo piano songs. Alcaeus and Sappho were close friends, but their reputation was slightly inferior to Sappho's. Most of his creations are political and war themes, which embodies the strong side of Qin songs. Later critics believe that it was he and Sappho who made ancient Greek lyric poetry reach its peak.

Anacreon, on the other hand, has a bad reputation for taking refuge in the royal family and acting as an imperial poet. His works are popular and fluent, which has a far-reaching influence on European poetry after the 16th century.

As for the choral piano songs, Pindar (518-442 BC) was the poet with the highest achievement. He was taught by some famous musicians in Athens, and the theme of his poems was mostly to praise God and the Olympic Movement. In his life, he wrote 17 volumes of poems, and there are 4 volumes of complete ode to the winners (* * * 45 poems). Pindar's poems have a great influence on later generations, and Milton and Goethe have intentionally imitated his style.

Aesop's fables

It is said that Aesop was a freed slave in the first half of the century BC, and he was extremely clever. He wrote many fables in his life.

Aesop's fables mainly convey moral teachings through the words and deeds of some animals. The famous stories include "lion and mouse", "fox and crane", "wolf in sheep's clothing" and "fox and grapes". Aesop's fables are usually short and pithy, with strong ideological content, which embodies the wisdom of ancient Greeks and has an impact on later generations' literature all over the world.

democratic era drama

The so-called "democratic era" refers to the period from the 6th century BC to the 4th century BC. This era was the heyday of the ancient Greek world, and all the city-states were prosperous and developed. Athens, which is located in the bay and has convenient transportation, was increasingly developed in industry and commerce, and established a slave-owner democracy. In Athens, there is no king in the country, and the highest authority is the general assembly of citizens, which is drawn by citizens to discuss state affairs.

In addition, the victory of foreign wars has strengthened this prosperous situation to some extent. At the beginning of the 5th century BC, the economic and political contradiction between Greece and Persia caused the Sino-Persian War, and the Greeks won great victories in the Marathon and Salami battles. After the war, many Greek city-states formed maritime alliances to defend against Persian aggression, and Athens became the leader. Since then, Athens' economy and politics have become increasingly prosperous, and it has also ushered in the golden age of ancient Greek literature.