User:OnBeyondZebrax/sandbox/Greek literature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Ancient Greek literature refers was written from the fifth century AD and the rise of the Byzantine Empire. At the beginning of Greek literature are works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. In the classical period many of the genres of western literature became more prominent. The two major lyrical poets were Sappho and Pindar. The Classical era also saw the dawn of drama. Two of the most influential historians were Herodotus and Thucydides. In the 4th century BCE, three philosophers are notable: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Later Greek poetry flourished primarily in the 3rd century BC. During the Roman era, the physician Galen, in the history of ancient science, is the most significant person in medicine after Hippocrates.

Byzantine literature refers to literature of the Byzantine Empire written in Atticizing, Medieval and early Modern Greek. Chronicles, distinct from historic, arose in this period. Encyclopedias also flourished in this period. Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in common Modern Greek, emerging from late Byzantine times in the 11th century AD. The Cretan Renaissance poem Erotokritos is the masterpiece of this early period of modern Greek literature. Much later, Diafotismos was an ideological, philological, linguistic and philosophical movement among 18th century Greeks that translate the ideas and values of European Enlightenment into the Greek world. Adamantios Korais and Rigas Feraios are two of the most notable figures. The years before the Greek Independence, the Ionian islands became the center of the Heptanese School (literature). Notable representatives were Andreas Laskaratos, Andreas Kalvos, Aristotelis Valaoritis and Dionysios Solomos.

Later the independence the intellectual center was transferred in Athens. A major figure of this new era was Kostis Palamas, considered "national poet" of Greece. Modern Greek literature is usually (but not exclusively) written in polytonic orthography. Modern Greek literature is represented by many writers, poets and novelists. Major representatives are Angelos Sikelianos, Emmanuel Rhoides, Athanasios Christopoulos, Kostis Palamas, Penelope Delta, Yannis Ritsos, Alexandros Papadiamantis, Nikos Kazantzakis, Andreas Embeirikos, Kostas Karyotakis, Gregorios Xenopoulos, Constantine P. Cavafy, Demetrius Vikelas, while George Seferis and Odysseas Elytis have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.