Classical Studies 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Polis, Basileus, Homeric Hymns

• School: Western University
• Department: Classical Studies
• Course: Classical Studies 1000
• Professor: Christopher Brown

Document Summary

Salient characteristics: narrative, speeches, similes, divine machinery", etc. Early greek culture called a shame culture (modern day lives in guilt culture) What everyone else thinks of you is what is important. Shame culture values much greater and more important than in modern times. Agamemnon hurt achilles honour when he took away his woman everything was done for honour and glory. Iliad is all about the humans embracing their mortality all humans died, only gods lived. Closest thing we have to immortality is imperishable glory , to never be forgotten. Ideology of death is all about remembering hanging on to that person, celebrating that person so that they never really die. The poem treats only 14 days in a war that lasted 10 years. Similar to the iliad in character, but very different in themes and structure. Odyssey looks at the iliad and takes issue with it. Man sing, oh muse is how it starts.