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Ancient Greek Literatue • 時間：c. 600 B.C. ~ 300 B.C. (周朝) The Age of Pericles (461~429 B.C.) The Peloponnesian War (431 B.C.): between Athens & Sparta Alexander the Great, of Macedon, 356~323 B.C. Three Great Philosophers: Socrates: 述而無作 Plato: Dialogues Phaedo, Symposium, Republic, Ion, Laws, etc. Theory of ideas: True reality for Plato is made up of intellectual concepts or Ideas, which he considers eternal and unchanging. Poets are inspired and possessed. (Ion) Poetry is twice (thrice) removed from reality. It feeds and waters the passions instead of drying them up. (Republic) The poet shall compose nothing contrary to the ideas of the lawful, or just, or beautiful, or good which are allowed in the state. (Laws) Aristotle: The Poetics It defines tragedy and discusses its six component elements—plot, character, thought, diction, scenery, and song. It discusses motivation, the unities of time and action, character flaw, probability, and catharsis (purgation 清滌). The Greek Drama • 節慶：Dionysus (酒神), 一、二月 Wine- Press 節 三、四月 Spring 節 • 劇場：open-air, 衛城斜坡, deus ex machina (機關跑出之神) 可容 17,000人，演員wore masks • 演出：dithyramb (合唱歌) + actor(s) Chorus (strophe, antistrophe, epode) The Acropolis of Athens Three Great Tragedians Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound (《普羅米修斯 被綁記》) Sophocles: Oedipus the King 《伊底帕斯王》 Thebes Corinth Thebes Laius, Oedipus, Jocasta, Tiresias Irony of fate: “No mortal man can be pronounced happy until after he is dead.” Antigone 《安替剛妮》 Euripides: Medea (《糜蒂雅》) Prometheus Bound Medea about to kill her children One Great Comedian Aristophanes Clouds: To satirize Socrates and the Sophists. Strepsiades sent his son to Socrates’ Thinkery. How far can a flea leap? Where does a gnat’s hum come from? Frogs: To criticize Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. An attack on Athenian political and literary decadence. Dionysus with Xanthias went to Hades to bring back a good tragedian. Lysistrata : A sex strike to end the Peloponnesian war Other Greek Writers • Herodotus: The History • Thucydides: History of the Peloponesian War • Pindar: great lyric poet • Sappho: great woman lyric poet • Theocritus: father of pastoral literature • Demosthenes: great orator Ancient Roman Literature • 時間： c. 265 B.C. ~ A.D. 330 or later (秦漢~五代) The Punic Wars (264~146 B.C. Rome & Carthage) Carthage, Greece, Gaul 淪亡 (146~50 B.C.) Caesar, Pompey, Crassus (1st Triumvirate) Octavius, Antony, Lepidus (2nd Triumvirate) Constantine (建都 Constantinople) The Roman Empire: (27 B.C.~ A.D. 476 ~ A.D. 1453) The Augustan Age (27 B.C. ~ A.D. 14) Roman Literature: • The New Comedy: farce, low comedy Plautus: Amphituo, Menaechmi, Miles Gloriosus Terence: The Eunuch (閹人) 老套的人物與情節。 不敢諷刺當代要人。 Roman Literature: • A philosophical poem in six books: Lucretius: On the Nature of Things (物性論) Atoms matter with changing forms Free-will & doctrine of the “swerve” Soul energizes body: 皆原子組成，死後分離 神話的神 恐懼 & 迷信 不畏神、不怕死、不求來生 happiness Roman Literature: • Orations (演說) and Essays: Cicero (西塞羅): orator & rhetorician • Epics (史詩): • Virgil (味吉爾): Aeneid《羅馬建國記》 Aeneas, Dido, Turnus, Lavinia Ovid (奧維德): Metamorphosis 《變形記》 • Satire (諷刺文): Horace (霍雷斯): Satires, with gentle humor Juvenal (朱文納爾) : 16 satires, with biting attacks Aeneas told to leave Dido Other Roman Literature: Martial’s Epigrams (警句) “You feign youth, Laetinus, with dyed hair to the degree that suddenly you are raven, but lately you were a swan.” Petronius’ Satyricon (”widow of Ephesus”) Seneca’s rhetorical tragedies Apulius’ The Golden Ass (金驢記) Lucius 吃 magic potion Marcus Aurelius’ The Meditations (沈思錄) “Of the life of man the duration is but a point, its substance streaming away, its perception dim, the fabric of the entire body prone to decay.” The Golden Ass