Antique works. General characteristics of ancient literature

Teacher: Tatyana Aleksandrovna.

What is offered for reading is not a textbook, but an anthology. The best anthologies are “Rome” and “Ancient Literature”. A textbook on the history of foreign literature for the first year is best from Losev or Taho-Godi (this is the surname of his wife, since the manual began to be published under the surname of Losev himself only in 1991 on his anniversary), but you can take Taho-Godi only after the 76th year of publication , since earlier editions do not contain information on mythology. Also good manuals by Tronsky and Radzig. Gyleneon cannot be taken due to factual errors in the text.

For reading:

1. A manual on mythology. The best – Nikolai Kun “Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece”. There is “Legends and Tales of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome,” edited by Neihardt. There is A. Nemirovsky “Myths of Ancient Hellas”. Additionally, F. F. Zelinsky “The Fabulous Antiquity of Hellas” and “Ancient Greek Religion.”

2. Homer. Poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". Definitely no abbreviations.

3. Hesiod. Excerpts from the poems “Works and Days”, “Theogony”.

4. Excerpts of ancient lyric poetry according to the anthology.

5. Aeschylus “Chained Prometheus”, “Oresteia”.

6. Sophocles “Oedipus the King”, “Antigone”, “Oedipus at Colonus”.

7. Euripides “Medea”, “Hippolytus”, “Alcesta” or “Iphigenia in Aulis”.

8. Aristophanes, two comedies from those included in the manual.

9. Menander, two works from the manual.

10. Aristotle according to the reader.

11. Greek novel “Daphnis and Chloe”.

12. Comedian Plautus. Two comedies from the training manual.

13. Terence “Mother-in-law”, “Brothers”.

14. Lucretius according to an anthology or textbook.

15. Horace and Cicero also.

16. Virgil “Aeneid”.

17. Ovid “Metamorphoses”. Out of 15 parts – four or five.

General characteristics of ancient literature.

Subject and meaning of ancient literature. Specifics of ancient art.

Ancient slave society. Periods of literary history of Greece.

Ancient literature is not chronologically the first. The reason that we study it first lies in the fact that ancient literary monuments were discovered the other way around, that is, from later to earlier.

Ancient literature is the oldest European literature, so it influences all other literature.

Ancient literature is the first stage in the cultural development of the world, which is why it influences the entire world culture. This is noticeable even in everyday life. Ancient words become commonplace for us, for example the words “audience”, “lecturer”. The type of lecture itself is classical - this is how lectures were read back in Ancient Greece. Many items are also called by ancient words, for example, a tank with a tap for heating water is called “Titan”. Most of the architecture in one way or another bears elements of antiquity.

The names of ancient heroes are often used for the names of ships. Sometimes it looks very symbolic. For example, Napoleon was taken into exile on the cruiser Bellerophon. Bellerophon was given the task of killing the chimera. (Chimera is a monster consisting of a dragon, a goat and a lion). By the way, this reflects the differences between the perception of the ancient Greeks and us - to us she would have seemed like a terrible monster, but Bellerophon first fell in love with her. Nevertheless, he killed her, and after that he was so proud of his victory that he wanted to ascend to Olympus to the gods. He was thrown to the ground, he lost his mind and wandered the earth until Thanatos took pity on him.

Images from ancient literature are included in modern literature; they contain deep meaning. Sometimes they are included in popular expressions. Ancient mythological stories are often recycled and used again.

Why still “ancient culture”? After all, we are studying Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece. The term “antiquity” was first used by humanists of the Renaissance. They begin to create a semblance of a system of myths and history, and begin to conduct the first unprofessional excavations. The word "antique" comes from the Latin word "antikqus" - ancient, and is used to this day.

Ancient Greek culture has its own roots. The forerunner is the Creto-Minoan (or Crete-Mycenaean) culture. Scientists argue about the original inhabitants of Crete - so different names arise. English archaeologist Arthur Evans discovered the Cretan culture. Before this, the famous Heinrich Schliemann tried to conduct excavations in Crete, but he did not have enough money to buy the territory for excavations. Arthur Evans discovered the Palace of Knossos, and therefore the Creto-Minoan civilization, since much evidence of its existence was found in this palace. There are different versions of the death of this civilization, but many scientists agree that a natural cataclysm was to blame.

Clay tablets with two different types of writing were found in the palace, which means that writing already existed. In addition, an ancient heating and sewage system was found there, as well as the basis for many myths, for example, the labyrinth of the minotaur - the underground premises of the palace. The word “labyrinth” comes from the word “labris” - a double-edged ax, the sacrificial weapon of the priests. During the sacrifice, the priest wore a mask of a bull - a minotaur. That is, the myth of Theseus, who defeated the Minotaur, speaks of the overthrow of the yoke of Crete by Athens.

Why "Mycenaean"? In Mycenae, Heinrich Schliemann found similar clay tablets with writings, indicating written communication between Greece and Crete.

Antiquity is often called the childhood of humanity. This statement is often incorrectly attributed to Karl Marx. The reason for this name is that ancient literature is often naive and descriptive. She turns to the origins of human consciousness, depicts a person outside of classes. And we must not forget that Ancient Greece had a slave-owning system, no matter what they say about the vaunted democracy. Of the five hundred thousand inhabitants of Athens, only one hundred thousand were free, and only half of them had the right to vote, since the rest came from other policies. Pericles is the founder of Athenian democracy. He ruled Athens for virtually 30 years, but his son from his second marriage never became a full citizen, since Pericles’ second wife (the famous writer Aspasia) was a native of another city. But in ancient works, not a single person is bound by class regulation, therefore the art of Ancient Greece gives a sense of freedom.

In ancient culture, for the first time, a spiritualized human image appears, placed in the center, since before that the center of all art was not a person. For example, in the drawings of primitive people, animals were depicted as huge and colorful, and people were schematically small. The ancient Egyptians had images of pharaohs in lifeless masks, and the royal army was also strangely semi-sketchy.

There were four ancient Greek dialects. Different literary genres developed into different dialects. The oldest dialect is Achaean (at the time of Homer, this dialect no longer had speakers left). The Aeolian dialect existed on island Greece, where lyrics first appeared. The Ionian dialect was widespread on mainland Greece and in the colonies on the coast of Asia Minor, and it gave rise to epic poetry. The Attic dialect emerges from the Ionic dialect and is used in the Athenian polis and in business speech. Doric is a dialect in southern Greece, it forms the basis of choral chants and the basis of theater.

Periodization:

1. Archaic period (7th century BC – 5th century BC). Characteristically: acute in social terms, since the destruction of the clan community and the establishment of a polis are underway. In the community, the king was at the head, then the clan nobility; in the polis, origin did not matter. Nietzsche calls this period tragic.

Oral folk art is developing, but there are no fairy tales in Greek mythology. Of the Greek fairy tales, only one has reached us, and there is debate about it, whether it was a later insertion. It came to us as part of Apuleius’s Metamorphoses - “The Tale of Cupid and Psyche.” In Greek art, the fairy tale is replaced by myth; it has the most significant role. A fable also develops that covers a huge conglomerate. Aesop is the founder of fables, he comes from Asia Minor. Epic, archaic, heroic poems appear, of which only Homeric ones have reached us. We can judge the rest only from fragments. Homer is replaced by the didactic epic of Hesiod, who wants to maintain the old moral standards. During the same period, archaic lyrics also appeared.

2. Classical (Attic) period. At this time, the center of cultural life was in Athens - Attica. After the Greco-Persian War, the development of Athens began, which soon became an example for all of Greece. The theater of drama is developing; it is believed that theater always develops in a tragic era. First comes tragedy, then comedy. Lyrics and oratory, rhetoric are developing. In the fourth century, prose begins to develop. Historical prose appears first, then philosophical prose.

3. Hellenistic period (from 4th century BC to 1st century BC). During this period, Greece was conquered first by Philip, then by Alexander the Great. The policy system has outlived its usefulness. Alexander has a great idea - to bring Greek culture to the barbarians. The concept of “cosmopolitan” appears. Then Alexander realizes that Greek culture is not the only competitive culture in the world. Hellenism is a symbiosis of Greek and other cultures. The cultural center is moved to Egypt, to Alexandria. Humanities emerge there.

Characterized by close attention to the person. Small genres of lyricism are developing, for example, the epigram. High comedy is losing its significance, and a neo-Attic comedy about family, about home appears. At the very end of the period, the Greek story or Greek novel appears.

4. The period of Greek literature during the era of Roman rule (1st century BC - 476 AD). Example: Apuleius “The Golden Ass (Metamorphoses).” Historical knowledge is developing, for example, Plutarch’s “Biography”.

Ancient literature provides a lot of different information about the most ancient poetic works and semi-legendary singers who, according to legend, competed with Homer and remained in the people's memory as sages, not much inferior to Apollo and the muses, patrons of the arts. The names of famous singers and songwriters have been preserved: Orpheus, Linus, Musaeus, Eumolpus, etc., who were remembered throughout antiquity.

The original poetic forms are associated with the religious and everyday practices of the ancient Greeks. These are, first of all, various types of songs that are mentioned quite often in the Homeric epic.

Types of lyrical songs

Pean - a hymn in honor of Apollo. Of the hymns to the gods, Homer mentions this particular paean. It is mentioned in the Iliad, where the Achaean youths sing it during a sacrifice to mark the end of the plague after the return of Chryseis, and where Achilles proposes to sing the paean on the occasion of his victory over Hector.

Frenos - Greek threnos - lament - funeral or funeral song. In the Iliad, it is mentioned in the episode of the death of Hector, it was performed over his corpse and at the solemn funeral of Achilles in the Odyssey, where nine Muses participated, who sang this phrenos, and the funeral singing of all gods and people around the body of Achilles lasted 17 days.

Hyporchema - the song accompanying the dance may have been mentioned in the description of the shield of Achilles in the Iliad, where workers in the vineyard lead a cheerful round dance to the singing of the young man and his playing of the forming.

Sophronistic - Greek sophronisma - suggestion - a moralizing song. This song is mentioned in Homer. Agamemnon, leaving for Troy, left a singer to look after his wife Clytemnestra, who, apparently, was supposed to instill wise instructions in her. However, this singer was sent by Aegisthus to a deserted island and died there.

Encomius - a song of praise in honor of glorious men, sung by Achilles, who left the battle and retired to his tent.

Hymen - a wedding song that accompanies the bride and groom in the depiction of the wedding celebration on the shield of Achilles.

The work song develops earlier than any other types of poetry. Homer, as a singer of military exploits, left no mention of these songs. They are known from Aristophanes' comedy "Peace", which is reminiscent of the Russian "Eh, let's go!", or the song of the flour millers on the island. Lesbos from Plutarch's Feast of the Seven Wise Men.

The musical accompaniment of the song, as well as its dance accompaniment, is a remnant of the ancient inseparability of all arts. Homer talks about solo singing accompanied by a cithara or forminga. Achilles accompanies himself on the cithara; This is how the famous Homeric singers sing: Demodocus at Alcinous and Phemius in Ithaca, and so do Apollo and the Muses.

Heroic ancient epic

Not a single complete work has reached us from the pre-Homeric past. However, they represented the vast, boundless creativity of the Greek people. Like other peoples, songs dedicated to heroes were originally associated with funeral laments for the hero. A heroic dirge is an epitaph.

Over time, these laments developed into entire songs about the life and exploits of the hero, received artistic completion, and, to the extent of the socio-political significance of the hero, even became traditional. Thus, the epic poet Hesiod in his work “Works and Days” told about himself how he went to Chalkis for festivities in honor of the hero Amphidamantus, how he sang a hymn there in his honor and how he received the first award for this.

Gradually, the song in honor of the hero gained its independence. It was no longer necessary to perform such heroic songs at festivities in honor of the hero. They were performed at feasts and meetings by an ordinary rhapsodist or poet, like Homer's Demodocus and Phemius. These “glories of men” could also be performed by a non-professional, as, for example, in Aeschylus’s work “Agamemnon” Iphigenia glorifies his exploits at the feasts of her father Agamemnon.

Not only positive heroes were sung. Singers and listeners began to be interested in negative heroes, about whose atrocities legends were also formed. For example, Homer's Odyssey directly speaks in songs about the notoriety of Clytemnestra.

Thus, even scant information about the pre-Homeric heroic epic makes it possible to name its types:

Epitaph (funeral lament);

Agon (competition at the grave);

- the “glory” of the hero, solemnly performed at a festival specially dedicated to him;

- the “glory” of the hero, solemnly performed at the feasts of the military aristocracy;

Encomium for heroes in civil or domestic life;

Skoliy (drinking song) to one or another outstanding personality, but no longer to ancient heroes, but as simple entertainment at feasts

It’s similar in the epic about the gods. Only here the process of development of the epic begins not with the cult of a deceased hero, but with a sacrifice to one or another deity, accompanied by verbal statements that are quite laconic. Thus, the sacrifice to Dionysus was accompanied by shouting of one of his names - “Dithyramb”. The "Homeric Hymns" (the first five hymns), which represent a developed epic about the gods, are no different from the Homeric epic about heroes.

Non-heroic epic

In terms of time of occurrence, it is older than heroic. As for fairy tales, various kinds of parables, fables, and teachings, they were originally not only poetic, but probably purely prosaic or mixed in style. One of the earliest parables about the nightingale and the hawk is found in Geosides' poem "Works and Days." The development of the fable was associated with the name of the semi-legendary Aesop.

Singers and poets of pre-Homeric times

The names of the poets of pre-Homeric poetry are mostly fictitious. Folk tradition has never forgotten these names and has colored legends about their lives and works with its imagination.

Orpheus

Among the most famous singers is Orpheus. This name of the ancient singer, hero, magician and priest gained particular popularity in the 6th century. BC, when the cult of Dionysus was widespread.

It was believed that Orpheus was 10 generations older than Homer. This explains much of the mythology of Orpheus. He was born in Thessaly Pieria, near Olympus, where the Muses themselves reigned, or, according to another option, in Thrace, where his parents were the Muse Calliope and the Thracian king Eagre.

Orpheus is an extraordinary singer and lyre player. From his singing and music, trees and rocks move, wild animals are tamed, and the impregnable Hades himself listens to his songs. After the death of Orpheus, his body was buried by the Muses, and his lyre and head floated across the sea to the banks of the Meletus River near Smyrna, where Homer, according to legend, composed his poems. Many legends and myths are associated with the name of Orpheus: about the magical effect of Orpheus’ music, about the descent into Hades, about Orpheus being torn to pieces by the Bacchantes.

Other singers

Musaeus was considered a teacher or student of Orpheus (Museus - from the word “muse”), who is credited with transferring Orphic teaching from Pieria to Central Greece, to Helikon and Attica. Theogony, various kinds of hymns and sayings were also attributed to him.

Some ancient authors considered the hymn to the goddess Demeter to be the only genuine work of Musaeus. The son of Musaeus Eumolpus ("eumolpus" - beautifully singing) was credited with disseminating the works of his father and playing a major role in the Eleusinian Mysteries. The hymnical poet Pamphus ("pamph" - all-bright) is also attributed to pre-Homeric times.

Along with Orpheus, the singer Philammon was known, a participant in the Argonauts' campaign, revered in the Delphic religion of Apollo. It is believed that he was the first to create girls' choirs. Philammon is the son of Apollo and a nymph. The son of Philammon was the no less famous Thamyrid, the winner of the hymn competitions in Delphi, who was so proud of his art that he wanted to compete with the Muses themselves, for which he was blinded by them.

Ancient Greek literature

Ancient Greek literature is divided into two periods: classical, from approximately 900 BC. until the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC), and Alexandrian, or Hellenistic (from 323 to 31 BC - the date of the Battle of Actium and the fall of the last independent Hellenistic state).

It is more convenient to consider the literature of the classical period by genres, in the order of their appearance. 9th and 8th centuries BC. - the era of the epic; 7th and 6th centuries - time of takeoff of lyrics; 5th century BC. marked by the flourishing of drama; The rapid development of various prose forms began at the end of the 5th century. and continued into the 4th century. BC.

Epic poetry

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey were composed, according to some scientists, back in the 9th century. BC. These are the earliest literary works in Europe. Although they were created by one great poet, they undoubtedly have a long epic tradition behind them. From his predecessors, Homer adopted both the material and style of epic storytelling. He chose as his topic the exploits and trials of the Achaean leaders who devastated Troy at the end of the 12th century. BC.
The subsequent epic tradition is represented by a number of less significant poets - imitators of Homer, who are usually called “cyclics” (authors of cycles). Their poems (almost not preserved) filled the gaps left in the legend by the Iliad and Odyssey. Thus, Cypria covered the events from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis to the tenth year of the Trojan War (when the action of the Iliad begins), and Aethiopida, the Destruction of Troy and the Return - the interval between the events of the Iliad and the Odyssey. In addition to the Trojan, there was also the Theban cycle - it included Oedipodium, Thebaid and Epigones, dedicated to the house of Laius and the campaigns of the Argives against Thebes.

The birthplace of the heroic epic was, apparently, the Ionian coast of Asia Minor; in Greece itself, a little later, a didactic epic arose, adopting the language and meter of Homer’s poems.

It was this form that Hesiod (8th century BC) used in Works and Days, a poem in which advice on agriculture was interspersed with reflections on social justice and life at work. If the tone of Homer's poems is always strictly objective and the author does not reveal himself in any way, then Hesiod is quite frank with the reader, he narrates in the first person and provides information about his life. Hesiod was probably also the author of Theogony, a poem about the origin of the gods.

Homer's poems were first published in Milan by Demetrius Chalkokodylas at the end of the 15th century AD. Their first translation into Latin was made by Leontio Pilate in 1389. The translation manuscript is now kept in Paris. In 1440, Pir Candido Decembrio translated 5 or 6 books of the Iliad into Latin in prose, and a few years later Lorenzo Balla translated 16 books of the Iliad into Latin prose. Balla's translation was published in 1474.

Lyric poetry

Development of Greece in the 8th-7th centuries. BC. was characterized by the emergence of policies - small independent city-states - and the increasing social role of the individual citizen. These changes were reflected in the poetry of the era. By the beginning of the 7th century BC. The most important type of literature in Greece was lyric poetry - the poetry of subjective feeling. Its main genres were:

Choral lyrics;

Monodic, or solo, lyrics, intended, like choral ones, to be performed to the accompaniment of the lyre;

Elegiac poetry;

Iambic poetry.

Choral lyrics include, first of all, hymns to the gods, dithyrambs (songs in honor of the god Dionysus), parthenias (songs for a choir of girls), wedding and funeral songs and epinikias (songs in honor of the winners of competitions).

Choral lyrics until the end of the 6th century. BC. known only very fragmentarily. A major representative of choral lyric poetry lived at the end of the 6th and beginning of the 5th century BC. - Simonides of Keos (556 - 468 BC). True, only a small number of fragments have survived from Simonides' lyrics; Not a single complete poem has survived. However, Simonides' fame was based not only on the choir; he was also known as one of the creators of epigrams.

Around the same time, the classic of solemn choral lyrics, Pindar of Thebes (518 - 442 BC), lived. It is believed that he wrote 17 books, of which 4 books have survived; a total of 45 poems. In the same Oxyrhynchus papyri, Pindar's paeans (hymns in honor of Apollo) were found. As early as the 15th century, the humanist Lorenzo Balla mentions Pindar as a poet whom he prefers to Virgil. Manuscripts of Pindar's works are kept in the Vatican. Until recently, Pindar was the only choric lyricist from whom complete works have been preserved.

There is fragmentary information about three more poets: Even of Ascalon (5th century BC), Kheril (5th century BC) and the poetess Praxilla (mid-5th century BC); the latter, they say, was famous for drinking songs, but also wrote dithyrambs and hymns.

If the choral lyrics were addressed to the entire community of citizens, then the solo lyrics were addressed to individual groups within the polis (girls of marriageable age, unions of table mates, etc.). It is dominated by such motives as love, feasts, laments about lost youth, and civic feelings. An exceptional place in the history of this genre belongs to the Lesbian poetess Sappho (c. 600 BC).

The first love poet, creator of erotic elegy, was the Ionian Mimneom (second half of the 7th century BC). Several small poems from him have survived. Some fragments of his poems that have come down to us also display political and military themes.

At the turn of 600 BC. The Athenian legislator Solon wrote elegies and iambs. Political and moralizing themes predominate in his work.

Elegiac poetry covers several different types of poetry, united by one meter - the elegiac distich. The Athenian politician and legislator Solon (archon in 594) clothed discussions on political and ethical topics in an elegiac form.

On the other hand, the elegiac distich was used from early times for epitaphs and dedications, and it was from this tradition that the genre of the epigram (literally "inscription") subsequently emerged.

Iambic (satirical) poetry. Iambic meters were used for personal attacks in poetic form. The oldest and most famous iambic poet was Archilochus of Paros (c. 650 BC), who lived the hard life of a mercenary and, according to legend, drove his enemies to suicide with his merciless iambics. Later, the tradition developed by the iambic poets was adopted by ancient Attic comedy.

Prose of Ancient Greece

In the 6th century. BC. Writers appeared who presented Greek legends in prose. The development of prose was facilitated by the growth of democracy in the 5th century. BC, accompanied by the flourishing of oratory.

The works of historians and philosophers made a great contribution to the development of Greek prose.

The narrative of Herodotus (c. 484 - c. 424) about the Greco-Persian wars has all the signs of a historical work - they have a critical spirit, and the desire to find a universally significant meaning in the events of the past, and an artistic style, and compositional structure.

The followers of Socrates were the Cynic Antisthenes, Aristippus and others. Aristotle (384-322 BC) also came from this circle, who also wrote a number of Platonic dialogues, widely known in antiquity.

The development of rhetoric as an independent genre in Greece was associated with the rise of democracy and the involvement of an increasing number of citizens in political life. The sophists did a lot to transform rhetoric into art; in particular, Gorgias of Leontinus and Thrasymachus of Chalcedon expanded the range of rhetorical figures and introduced fashion for symmetrical antitheses and rhythmic periods.

Rhetoric reached its highest flowering in Athens. Antiphon (d. 411 BC) was the first to publish his speeches, some of them purely rhetorical exercises dealing with fictitious cases. The thirty-four surviving speeches of Lysias are considered examples of the simple and refined Attic style; Lysias, not being a native of Athens, made his living by writing speeches for citizens speaking in court.

The speeches of Isocrates (436-338) were pamphlets for public reading; the elegant style of these speeches, built on antitheses, and the original views on education expressed in them provided him with enormous authority in the ancient world.
But the Orator with a capital S for the Greeks was Demosthenes (384-322). Of all the speeches that have come down to us, he delivered 16 in the national assembly, convincing the Athenians to oppose Philip of Macedon. It is in them that the passionate, inspiring eloquence of Demosthenes reaches its highest strength.

Alexandrian era

The profound changes that occurred throughout the Greek world with the death of Alexander the Great (323 BC) were also reflected in literature. The connection between the citizen and the life of the polis weakened, and in art, literature, and philosophy, the tendency toward the individual and personal prevailed. But, although art and literature lost their former socio-political significance, the rulers of the newly formed Hellenistic kingdoms willingly encouraged their development, especially in Alexandria.

The Ptolemies founded a magnificent library containing lists of all the famous works of the past.
Here, classical texts were edited and commentaries on them were written by such scholars as Callimachus, Aristarchus, and Aristophanes of Byzantium.

Reconstruction of the Library of Alexandria

The largest poet of the Alexandrian era was Theocritus of Syracuse (3rd century BC), the author of pastoral idylls and other short poetic works.

For the modern reader, the epigrams of such poets as Asklepiades, Philetus, Leonidas, etc. are of greater interest; they were preserved in the Greek (or Palatine) anthology compiled in the Byzantine era, which included a collection from Alexandrian times - the Crown of Meleager (c. 90 BC).

Alexandrian prose was primarily the field of science and philosophy. Of literary interest are the Characters of Theophrastus (c. 370-287 BC), who replaced Aristotle at the head of the Lyceum: these sketches of typical characters of the Athenians were widely used in Neo-Attic comedy.

From significant historians of this period, only the works of Polybius (c. 208-125 BC) have survived (in part) - a monumental history of the Punic Wars and the Roman conquest of Greece.

The Alexandrian era marks the birth of biography and memoirs as independent literary genres.

Aeschylus was the founder of the ideologically civil tragedy, a contemporary and participant in the Greco-Persian wars, a poet of the time of the formation of democracy in Athens. The main motive of his work is the glorification of civil courage and patriotism. One of the most remarkable heroes of Aeschylus’s tragedies is the irreconcilable god-fighter Prometheus, the personification of the creative forces of the Athenians.

Medea and Jason

A feature of all ancient dramas was the choir, which accompanied all the action with singing and dancing. Aeschylus introduced two actors instead of one, reducing the chorus parts and focusing on the dialogue, which was a decisive step in transforming the tragedy from purely mimetic choral lyrics into genuine drama. The play of two actors made it possible to increase the tension of the action. The appearance of a third actor is Sophocles' innovation, which made it possible to outline different lines of behavior in the same conflict.

Euripides

In his tragedies, Euripides reflected the crisis of traditional polis ideology and the search for new foundations of worldview. He sensitively responded to pressing issues of political and social life, and his theater represented a kind of encyclopedia of the intellectual movement of Greece in the second half of the 5th century. BC e. In the works of Euripides, various social problems were posed, new ideas were presented and discussed.

Ancient criticism called Euripides “a philosopher on stage.” The poet was not, however, a supporter of a particular philosophical doctrine, and his views were not consistent. His attitude towards Athenian democracy was ambivalent. He glorified it as a system of freedom and equality, but at the same time he was frightened by the poor “crowd” of citizens who decided issues in public assemblies under the influence of demagogues. A common thread running through Euripides’ entire work is interest in the individual with his subjective aspirations. The great playwright portrayed people with their drives and impulses, joys and sufferings. With all his creativity, Euripides forced viewers to think about their place in society, about their attitude towards life.

Exercise:
1 . Make a presentation on the topic "Ancient Literature".
2. Post it on the Ru Tube channel

Historical and artistic significance of ancient literature.

The concept of “ancient literature” unites three major literary eras, three stages of a single literary process, each of which has its own specifics and differs from the two adjacent ones. This is the era of Greek, Hellenistic and Roman literature. None of them are monolithic; in each, under the pressure of the class struggle, a reshuffling of class forces and a change in class consciousness are reflected.

Greek literature begins with the formation of ancient society; Hellenistic, dating from the monarchy of Alexander the Great, begins where Greek literature ends; parallel to the Hellenistic one, Roman literature arose, which was ahead of it.

Ancient literature is the first stage in the cultural development of the world, which is why it influences the entire world culture. This is noticeable even in everyday life. Ancient words become commonplace for us, for example the words “audience”, “lecturer”. The type of lecture itself is classical - this is how lectures were read back in Ancient Greece. Many items are also called by ancient words, for example, a tank with a tap for heating water is called “Titan”. Most of the architecture in one way or another bears elements of antiquity; the names of ancient heroes are often used for the names of ships.

Images from ancient literature are included in modern literature; they contain deep meaning. Sometimes they are included in popular expressions. Ancient mythological stories are often recycled and used again.

Ancient literature, the literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans, also represents a specific unity, forming a special stage in the development of world literature. For example, the Greeks became more familiar with the more ancient literatures of the East only when the flowering of their own literature was already far behind them. In its richness and diversity, in its artistic significance, it was far ahead of Eastern literature.

In Greek and related Roman literature, almost all European genres were already present; Most of them have to this day retained their ancient, mainly Greek names: epic poem and idyll, tragedy and comedy, ode, elegy, satire (Latin word) and epigram, various types of historical narrative and oratory, dialogue and literary writing - all these are genres that managed to achieve significant development in ancient literature; it also presents genres such as the short story and the novel, although in less developed, more rudimentary forms. Antiquity also laid the foundation for the theory of style and fiction (“rhetoric” and “poetics”).

The historical significance of ancient literature lies in the repeated returns of European literature to antiquity, as a creative source from which themes and principles of their artistic treatment were drawn. The creative contact of medieval and modern Europe with ancient literature, generally speaking, never ceased. It is worth noting three periods in the history of European culture when this contact was especially significant, when the orientation towards antiquity was, as it were, a banner for the leading literary movement.

1.Renaissance (Renaissance);

2. Classicism 17-18 centuries;

3.Kots classicism of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

In Russian literature, the classicism of the 17th and 18th centuries was of greatest importance, and the most prominent representative of the new understanding of antiquity was Belinsky.

an ideal, but due to the insignificance of the political role of the German bourgeoisie in the 18th century, not the political, but the aesthetic side of the ideal, the “noble simplicity and calm grandeur” of ancient images, was brought to the fore. Antiquity is seen as a kingdom of beauty and harmony, the blissful childhood of humanity, the embodiment of “pure humanity.” One of the theoretical founders of this trend, later called “neo-humanistic,” was the famous art critic Winckelmann (1717 - 1768), the main literary representatives at the end of the 18th century. - Goethe and Schiller. “Neo-humanism” transferred the center of gravity of interest in antiquity from Rome to Greece and from the later eras of Greek society to those early periods, which court classicism looked at with a certain disdain. This interest of the progressive bourgeoisie in the eras of growth of ancient society raised the interpretation of antiquity to the highest level. Winckelmann, calling for “imitation of the Greeks,” established a direct connection between the flowering of Greek art and the political freedom of the ancient republics, between the loss of freedom and the eras of decline of art; in political freedom he saw the basis of ancient “harmony.” However, the revolutionary content inherent in Winckelmann’s artistic teachings and which found a great response in France, completely disappeared in his own homeland, and the aesthetic introduction to the ancient “ideal” marked in German bourgeois classicism the rejection of the revolutionary reorganization of society and the call for “self-restraint” (Goethe) . The neo-humanistic understanding of antiquity played a huge role in both literature and science and formed the basis of Hegel’s views on the philosophy of history and aesthetics. Some of Winckelmann's propositions were subsequently adopted, in a materialist revision, by Marx.

In Russia, Belinsky was a prominent representative of the new understanding of antiquity. Together with the neo-humanists, he argued that “Greek creativity was the liberation of man from the yoke of nature, a wonderful reconciliation of spirit and nature, which had hitherto been at odds with each other. And therefore, Greek art ennobled, enlightened and spiritualized all the natural inclinations of man... All forms of nature were equally beautiful for the artistic soul of the Hellene; but, as the noblest vessel of the spirit - man, the creative gaze of the Hellene stopped with rapture and pride on his beautiful figure and the luxurious grace of his forms - and the nobility, greatness and beauty of the human figure and forms appeared in the immortal images of Apollo Belvedere and Venus of Medicea " . But the revolutionary worldview of the great Russian educator could not be satisfied with a one-sided aesthetic attitude towards antiquity, and he puts forward its progressive significance in the fight against “feudal tyranny”: “there, on this classical soil, the seeds of humanity, civic valor, thinking and creativity developed; there is the beginning of any rational society, there are all its prototypes and ideals.” At the same time, Belinsky believed that in the ancient world “society, having freed man from nature, too subjugated him to itself”; he tries to avoid the dangerous mistake into which many researchers of the ancient world fell - modernization * of antiquity, the desire to attribute to it

General information

Simultaneously with ancient culture, other cultural areas developed in the Mediterranean basin. Ancient culture became the basis of all Western civilization and art.

In parallel with the ancient one, other ancient cultures and, accordingly, literatures developed: ancient Chinese, ancient Indian, ancient Iranian. Ancient Egyptian literature was experiencing a period of prosperity at that time.

In ancient literature, the main genres of European literature in their archaic forms and the foundations of the science of literature were formed. The aesthetic science of antiquity identified three main literary genres: epic, lyric and drama (Aristotle), this classification retains its basic meaning to this day.

Aesthetics of ancient literature

Mythological

Ancient literature, as well as every literature originating from tribal society, is characterized by specific features that sharply distinguish it from modern art.

The most ancient forms of literature are associated with myth, magic, religious cult, and ritual. Remnants of this connection can be observed in the literature of antiquity right up to the time of its decline.

Publicity

Ancient literature is characterized public forms of existence. Its greatest flowering occurred in the pre-literary era. Therefore, the name “literature” is applied to it with a certain element of historical convention. However, it was precisely this circumstance that led to the tradition of including the achievements of theater in the literary sphere. Only at the end of antiquity did such a “book” genre appear as the novel, intended for personal reading. At the same time, the first traditions of book design were laid (first in the form of a scroll, and then a notebook), including illustrations.

Musicality

Ancient literature was closely related to music, which in the primary sources can certainly be explained through a connection with magic and religious cult. Homer's poems and other epic works were sung in melodic recitative, accompanied by musical instruments and simple rhythmic movements. Productions of tragedies and comedies in Athenian theaters were staged as luxurious “opera” performances. Lyrical poems were sung by authors, who thus also acted as composers and singers at the same time. Unfortunately, several fragments of all ancient music have reached us. Gregorian chant (chanting) can give an idea of ​​late ancient music.

Poetic form

A certain connection with magic can explain the extreme prevalence of poetic form, which literally reigned in all ancient literature. The epic produced the traditional leisurely size of hexameter, and the lyrical verses were distinguished by great rhythmic diversity; tragedies and comedies were also written in verse. Even commanders and legislators in Greece could address the people with speeches in poetic form. Antiquity did not know rhymes. At the end of antiquity, the “novel” appeared as an example of the prose genre.

Traditionality

Traditionality ancient literature was a consequence of the general slowness of development of the society of that time. The most innovative era of ancient literature, when all the main ancient genres took shape, was the time of socio-economic upsurge - the 5th century BC. e. In other centuries, the changes were not felt, or were perceived as degeneration and decline: the era of the formation of the polis system missed the communal-tribal one (hence the Homeric epic, created as an extensive idealization of “heroic” times), and the era of large states missed the polis times (hence the idealization heroes of early Rome in Titus Livy, idealization of the "freedom fighters" of Demosthenes and Cicero during the period of the Empire).

The literary system seemed unchanged, and poets of subsequent generations tried to follow the path of previous ones. Each genre had a founder who gave its perfect example: Homer - for epic, Archilochus - for iambic, Pindar or Anacreon - for the corresponding lyrical genres, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - for tragedy, etc. The degree of perfection of each new work or writer was determined degree of approximation to these samples.

Genre

From tradition it follows strict genre system ancient literature, which permeated subsequent European literature and literary criticism. The genres were clear and stable. Ancient literary thinking was genre-based: when a poet undertook to write a poem, no matter how individual in content it was, the author knew from the very beginning what genre the work would belong to and what ancient model he should strive for.

Genres were divided into more ancient and newer ones (epic and tragedy - idyll and satire). If the genre changed noticeably in its historical development, then its ancient, middle and new forms were distinguished (this is how Attic comedy was divided into three stages). Genres were divided into higher and lower: the heroic epic and tragedy were considered the highest. Virgil’s path from the idyll (“Bucolics”) through the didactic epic (“Georgics”) to the heroic epic (“Aeneid”) was clearly understood by the poet and his contemporaries as a path from “lower” genres to “higher ones.” Each genre had its own traditional theme and topic, usually very narrow.

Style Features

Style system in ancient literature it was completely subordinated to the system of genres. Low genres were characterized by a low style, close to conversational, while high genres were characterized by a high style, which was formed artificially. The means of forming a high style were developed by rhetoric: among them, the selection of words, the combination of words and stylistic figures (metaphors, metonymies, etc.) differed. For example, the doctrine of word selection recommended avoiding words that were not used in previous examples of high genres. The doctrine of word combination recommended rearranging words and dividing phrases to achieve rhythmic euphony.

Worldview features

Ancient literature maintained a close connection with ideological features clan, polis, state system and reflected them. Greek and partly Roman literature demonstrate a close connection with religion, philosophy, politics, morality, oratory, and legal proceedings, without which their existence in the classical era lost all its meaning. At the time of their classical heyday, they were far from entertainment; only at the end of antiquity did they become part of leisure time. The modern service in the Christian church has inherited some features of the ancient Greek theatrical performance and religious mysteries - a completely serious nature, the presence of all members of the community and their symbolic participation in the action, high themes, musical accompaniment and spectacular effects, a highly moral goal of spiritual purification ( catharsis according to Aristotle) ​​man.

Ideological content and values

Ancient humanism

Ancient literature shaped spiritual values ​​that became basic for all European culture. Widespread in ancient times, they suffered persecution in Europe for a millennium and a half, but then returned. Such values ​​include, first of all, the ideal of an active, active person, in love with life, possessed by a thirst for knowledge and creativity, ready to make independent decisions and bear responsibility for his actions. Antiquity considered the highest meaning of life happiness on earth.

The rise of earthly beauty

The Greeks developed the concept of the ennobling role of beauty, which they understood as a reflection of the eternal, living and perfect Cosmos. According to the material nature of the Universe, they understood beauty physically and found it in nature, in the human body - appearance, plastic movements, physical exercises, created it in the art of words and music, in sculpture, in majestic architectural forms, decorative and applied arts. They discovered the beauty of the moral man, whom they viewed as a harmony of physical and spiritual perfection.

Philosophy

The Greeks created the basic concepts of European philosophy, in particular the beginnings of the philosophy of idealism, and philosophy itself was understood as the path to personal spiritual and physical improvement. The Romans developed the ideal of a state close to the modern one, the basic tenets of law, which remain in force to this day. The Greeks and Romans discovered and tested the principles of democracy and republic in political life, and formed the ideal of a free and selfless citizen.

After the decline of antiquity, the value it established of earthly life, man and bodily beauty lost its meaning for many centuries. During the Renaissance, they, in synthesis with Christian spirituality, became the basis of a new European culture.

Since then, the ancient theme has never left European art, acquiring, of course, a new understanding and meaning.

Stages of ancient literature

Bust of Virgil at the entrance to his crypt in Naples

Ancient literature went through five stages.

Ancient Greek literature

Archaic

The archaic period, or preliterate period, culminates with the appearance of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey” (8th - 7th century BC). The development of literature at this time was concentrated on the Ionian coast of Asia Minor.

Classic

The initial stage of the classical period - the early classics is characterized by the flourishing of lyric poetry (Theognis, Archilochus, Solon, Semonides, Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon, Alcman, Pindar, Bacchylides), the center of which became the islands of Ionian Greece (7th - 6th century BC) .

High classics are represented by the genres of tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides) and comedy (Aristophanes), as well as non-literary prose (historiography - Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon; philosophy - Heraclitus, Democritus, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; eloquence - Demosthenes, Lysias, Isocrates ). Athens becomes its center, which is associated with the rise of the city after glorious victories in the Greco-Persian wars. Classical works of Greek literature are written in the Attic dialect (5th century BC).

Late classics are represented by works of philosophy and historiosophy, while theater loses its importance after the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War with Sparta (4th century BC).

Hellenism

The beginning of this cultural and historical period is associated with the activities of Alexander the Great. In Greek literature, a process of radical renewal of genres, themes and stylistics is taking place, in particular, the genre of the prose novel is emerging. At this time, Athens lost its cultural hegemony, numerous new centers of Hellenistic culture emerged, including in North Africa (3rd century BC - 1st century AD). This period is marked by the school of Alexandrian lyric poetry (Callimachus, Theocritus, Apollonius) and the work of Menander.

Ancient Roman literature

Main article: Ancient Roman literature

Age of Rome

During this period, young Rome entered the arena of literary development. His literature includes:

• the stage of the republic, which ends during the years of civil wars (3rd - 1st century BC), when Plutarch, Lucian and Long in Greece, Plautus, Terence, Catullus and Cicero in Rome worked;
• "Golden Age" or period of Emperor Augustus, designated by the names of Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Tibullus, Propertius (1st century BC - 1st century AD)
• literature of late antiquity (1st - 3rd centuries), represented by Seneca, Petronius, Phaedrus, Lucan, Martial, Juvenal, Apuleius.

Transition to the Middle Ages

During these centuries there was a gradual transition to the Middle Ages. The Gospels, created in the 1st century, mark a complete ideological change, a harbinger of a qualitatively new worldview and culture. In subsequent centuries, Latin remained the language of the church. On the barbarian lands that belonged to the Western Roman Empire, the Latin language significantly influences the formation of young national languages: the so-called Romance languages ​​- Italian, French, Spanish, Romanian, etc., and to a much lesser extent on the formation of Germanic languages ​​- English, German, etc., which inherit from the Latin spelling of letters (Latin). The influence of the Roman Catholic Church spreads across these lands.

Antiquity and Russia

The Slavic lands were predominantly under the cultural influence of Byzantium (which inherited the lands of the Eastern Roman Empire), in particular, they adopted Orthodox Christianity and the writing of letters in accordance with the Greek alphabet. The antagonism between Byzantium and the young barbarian states of Latin origin passed into the Middle Ages, determining the uniqueness of the further cultural and historical development of two areas: western and eastern.

see also

• History of literature
• Ancient Roman literature
• Ancient culture
• Antique aesthetics

Literature

References

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