History of Greek Literature

Chants and epics were the first arts of Greek literature. They appeared in the prehistoric period or the era of heroes and myths. This period began with the exodus of the Aryan tribes to Greece in the fifteenth century BC and ended approximately in the middle of the eighth century. Its most important literary effects: religious hymns. And epics. As for the first, we only received fragments of it, from which we were able to know that these hymns were part of the worship that appeared in Thrace. The most famous poets who composed these hymns are: Orpheus, Linus, and Musaeus. Minstrels also appeared on Crete, Delos, and other Aegean islands who sang such religious hymns, but these poets all belong to the world of mythology. Because they are the sons of inspired gods who speak under the inspiration of the Muses, and nothing of their traces remains to us; Therefore, epics are considered the oldest poems that have reached us from Greek literature. If the Greek epics are mentioned, the names of Homer and Hesiod immediately come to mind. Because they are the two greatest poets who composed in this art the most wonderful poems in the history of literature. Homer composed the two immortal cycles, the Iliad and the Odyssey, and they give the reader an honest picture of Greek society in the Age of Heroes or the Age of Feudalism.