Homer Vs Iliad Research Paper

Little is known about the legendary Greek poet Homer, who is attributed to writing the Iliad and the Odyssey. These heroic tales still influence lives today. His world, Ancient Greece, provides the foundation of western civilization.

Hesiod was another important poet in the transition period between myth and Presocratics. He wrote of a story of how everything was created. He stated that in the beginning there was chaos or a yawning gap. This was because the Greeks did not believe in creation from nothing. He used personification to tell a story of how the earth and sky mated to create the gods. Hesiod and Homer were both credited with the theogony, or creation of gods, of Greek civilization. The reason they both have the mythic worldview is because they both include supernatural and fictional aspects in their works. By including these aspects they are creating a false story that has aspects of truth hidden behind it. Hesiod also states in his works that he is not really the person who created the story. He states that he was told the story by muses, or goddesses, while he was tending to his sheep. This is also an aspect that keeps him in the category of myth. Hesiod is the first real transition between the mythic worldview and the Presocratic. He is considered a transitional writer because in his work of explaining the creation he is getting some form of a rational explanation as to how the earth was made, while Homer was mainly focused on telling the stories of the Golden Age.

Homer's two central heroes, Odysseus and Achilles, are in many ways differing manifestations of the same themes. While Achilles' character is almost utterly consistent in his rage, pride, and near divinity, Odysseus' character is difficult to pin down to a single moral; though perhaps more human than Achilles, he remains more difficult to understand. Nevertheless, both heroes are defined not by their appearances, nor by the impressions they leave upon the minds of those around them, nor even so much by the words they speak, but almost entirely by their actions. Action is what drives the plot of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, and action is what holds the characters together. In this respect, the theme of humanity

Many have deemed Homer and Hesiod the “founding fathers” of Greek epic poetry and philosophical writings. Both writers’ careers flourished around 8th century B.C, and were immense influences in the world of Greek philosophy. Hesiod focuses on more traditional origins of life for his stories and ensures that the creation of the world and its rulers are embodied in his works. Homer has been considered one of the most influential philosophical writers for centuries by recognized philosophers. He wrote about principles in battle, governance, counsel, sports, the home and life in general that the Greeks looked to in praise. While both of the authors were similar in writing style, they differ vastly in the messages of their poems.

“As is the generation of leaves, so is that of humanity. The wind scatters the leaves on the ground, but the live timber burgeons with leaves again in the season of spring returning. So one generation of men will grow while another dies” (6.146-50)

There are big differences between two ancient representatives of the Greek literature. If Homer is a legendary figure from the beginning to the end, Hesiod is real. Respect for the gods, love and respect for parents, homeland defense are the commandments of the Greeks, as reproduced in the Homeric poems. The appearance of the gods is portrayed contradictory. Homeric gods are completely humanoid (anthropomorphic), although some of them may become different animals. They are corporeal, and can even be hurt,

Some of the most memorable stories are recorded in Homer’s epic tale, The Iliad. With action packed battles, heroes and mighty gods, these tales that are so incredibly detailed that the reader can picture the battles like they were happening right in front of them. The Iliad’s legends are so infamous that even after hundreds of years they are still being told in the 21st century. Between the fighting and the glory however, there are scenes with the hero’s wives and families pleading with their loved ones to cut these stories short. If the hero of Troy, Hector, would have listened to his wife, Andromache, there would be no dramatic ending to his life and he would have lived out his days in shame. Luckily, even she realized this end and urged Hector to fight on for his city illustrating that, Andromache’s role in the myth was more import than audiences remember.

Journey, fate, conflict and divine intervention demonstrate the morals and ideas of the age and cultures in which both Virgil and Homer lived. The lives of the main characters, Odysseus and Aeneas must fulfill their destiny with direct interference from the Gods and Goddesses. With the gods and goddess not always sharing the same motives or best interest of the main character would make the journey to achieve their destiny extremely difficult. The gods and goddess can be vengeful just as much as they can be helpful to the main characters. “They are volatile, unpredictable, and fickle forces without limit and forces that cannot be altered once set into motion, unless an equal force intervences.”1 In both Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s Odyssey

    The characters of Homer’s The Odyssey struggled with the ineffable reality of the world, therefore they created gods that could carry the burden of their hopeless quest for understanding. The characters created by Homer, because of their intelligence, were finally

Homer constructed the epic story of Troy as a representation of proper behavior. As a result, he wrote and composed the type of literature where people could refer

In ancient Greece, the two poets Hesiod and Homer wrote dramatic stories outlining the nature of the Greek gods with their main works Theogony and The Iliad. They each offer descriptions of order, morality, and justice in the world, but there is a stark difference between each author’s work; Homer’s mythology features much more authoritative deities than Hesiod’s, ultimately establishing a more political, absolutist social order. The gods’ interactions with each other and with the human world are what define these properties alongside each poet’s ethical approach.

The primary source that I’ve decided to read and analyze is Hesiod’s Theogony and Cosmogony, which is found under Greece’s Religion and Myth. The reason why I ended up choosing this particular excerpt as my primary source analysis because not only I am interested in religion but I have always been interested in Greek mythologies. Now that I have been studying about ancient world especially Greece and its religion as well as its myths, I figured this would be the perfect time for me to learn and dig deeper about the origin of Greek’s mythologies, how the gods came into being and the creation of myth itself as well as the famous theologian at that time, Hesiod.

Ancient Greek poetry is celebrated for portraying classic tales of heroics and epic legends, yet very few poets were concerned with the unpretentious livelihoods of the common man. Among these Greek poets is Hesiod, whose works have been sourced for its depictions of early social customs and economic practices. Hesiod is distinct from other ancient singers because he may have been a tangible person, and not simply a figure pieced together from a cluster of other bards. His surviving piece, Works and Days, demonstrates his physical existence as a guide for his inept brother, Perses. He warns Perses that the unscrupulous road he is following would lead only to calamity and despair.

Homer and Ovid are two of the oldest, most influential poets that have ever lived. Although they are both poets, they have several differences in their writings. Homer, a Greek poet, is most famous for his epic poems Iliad and Odyssey. Ovid, a Roman poet, is most famous for Metamorphoses a 15 book poem containing over 250 myths. To compare and contrast these two poets and their writing styles, I will use Achilles’ battle with Hector in Homer’s Iliad book 22 and compare it with Achilles’ battle with Cycnus in Ovid’s Metamorphoses book 12. The comparison of these battles will give us a better understanding of these poets different views on the Trojan War.

Homer and Hesiod are both poets of the ancient Greek world. Homeric studies have so little material outside the Homeric collections of writings gives us a better understanding of the cultural landscape of the period. Although we have little continuous Greek writings from another century, than came Hesiod, who writings composed of extant two poems. Works and days and Theogony, though he had many other writings, these were the most important to the culture. As we know, Hesiodic poetry did not have a lot of specifying with heroic themes.