Characteristics of Greek Literature

Greek literature has a plethora of varieties, first of all, it must be clarified that Greek literature has its origin in its religious mythology, to this etymology it must be emphasized that the Greek gods were established aspects and feelings humans.

Greek literature is distinguished by being considered practically original and rather than having external influence, it is by the characteristics of Greek literature, which inspires the literature of other cultures, and especially the Latin one, which was influenced by its Roman Latin line.

Characteristics of Greek literature:

1.- First stage.- It is difficult to specify the antiquity of Greek literature, but it is known to be one of the oldest and most complete; There are data that indicate its existence more than 300 years before Christ, and its authors are difficult to pin down.

First vestiges.- The literary genres of ancient Greece can be divided into two:

A) Epic poetry.- These are works that narrate the events, "narratives" and were written in verse and were accompanied by music, these were called "

epics”And are understood as speeches or news.

This was of great extension, they evoked glorious stories, myths and legends, which were expressed in dactylic hexameter verses, they used to be solemn and made in formula to be able to be memorized. They were transmitted mainly orally and were the rhapsodies Y aedos those who took care of it.

• Rapsodas: These were people who sang memorized fragments of epics and mixed them in various ways, these were notable for using the citara for their songs.
• Aedos: The aedos were what we know today as singer-songwriters, since they composed and expressed their own epics.

b) .- Lyric poetry.- This poetry was created exclusively to be sung and bequeathed to be danced; so the lyre "lyric”, Is the main distinctive, to the extent of establishing his name as a sign of recognition. A division was made between popular lyric poetry and cultured lyric poetry.

2.- Second stage.- The drama, this is a second aspect of Greek literature, its origin was directly religion and later it was introduced to politics, bringing together elements of the lyrical and epic, began with religious dances, later moving on to what was He met.

The definition of drama can be established as I do or I repeat, although currently there are many interpretations of this concept.

There are four divisions that were made after its inception:

1. Tragedy
2. Comedy
3. Drama
4. Satire (satirical) and
5. Mime

3.- Third stage.- In this stage prose emerge, which develops in philosophy, novels, oratory and history.

• Prose.- Prose arose out of the need for political debates and explanations, this also influenced the legal, historical and scientific field.
  Due to its structure, it became the ideal form of communication, which explains things directly, avoiding songs and verses of religious and artistic origin.
  The types or genres of prose that stood out the most were:

• Philosophical - scientific
• Historiographic and
• Oratory.

Philosophical-scientific.- This process gave the necessary margin for the emergence and development of many of the dogmatic and positive sciences, this because in the 6th century BC philosophers and thinkers such as Anaxagoras, Pythagoras and Democritus, gave rise to the development of these techniques.

This was only the beginning, since it is precisely in the 5th century BC. C. when the prose was unleashed, widely distorting the verses.

It is at this time that philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, (his disciple) emerged who developed to an advanced degree sciences such as logic, poetics, ethics, rhetoric, aesthetics and politics among other

• Historiography.- Although the epic and history make a study or reference to the past, historiography carries out its processes more precisely and clear, this because the verse required a different process to understand and could at a given moment lend itself to confusion or allegories own. The story presents the knowledge in a chronological, direct and concise way, taking the main ideas of each situation and developing the following necessary ones.
• Oratory.- Oratory is directly related to the word and its use, this can be clearly seen in speeches, reaching its maximum splendor in the 5th and 4th centuries BC. C.
• The novel.- This has been developed from the beginning of Greek literature, but never flourished with impetus, until the appearance of Alexander of Macedonia when it arose and raised its management to what has currently been maintained, evolving to what is currently we know.