[...]... defeated the Trojans, and they knew well the events that led to the Trojan War According to Greek mythology, Eris, the goddess of discord, was so angry at not being invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (the future parents of Achilles, the hero of the Iliad) that she threw a golden apple into the reception area where the guests were talking On the apple, Eris had carved the words "For the fairest."... whatever is rounding the authorship of the poems sound quality of the poem described that makes them great; it is the poems Besides the literary characteristics Because the ancient epics were themselves Each is a unified whole that define an epic, there are other prerecited orally, poets needed to be very Each poem revolves around a theme requisites Epic themes and heroes must conscious of the sound and rhythm... to ANCIENT GREEKS Lycurgus BORN the laws of the state was eligible for membership Lycurgus then instituted a unique process for electing a senator A select group met in a room near where the election was to be held As each candidate appeared before the Spartan people outside, the people shouted their approval Those in the room listened and rated the volume of the shouting The candidate who received the. .. first? There were cheeses, a variety of meats, breads, desserts, cookies, and champagne Up the chair leg and then onto the table the two climbed They began at one end of the table and were working their way across the plates when they heard a dog bark Both stopped, their short hair standing on end There was more barking, but this time it was not just one dog barking There seemed to be many dogs, and they... storytellers who sing their verses to the accompaniment of a musical instrument called a lyre Ancient kings and princes often employed bards to live at the palace and to compose verses praising their patrons and the greatness of the city The fact that ancient bards were often represented as blind gave rise to the tradition that Homer was blind Some scholars have suggested that the ancients felt a poet's... Priam in Achilles' tent, seeking to ransom the body of his son The Odyssey continues the tale but focuses on the return home of the Greek hero Odysseus The opening lines clearly set the stage for the rest of the poem: "Tell me, O Muse, of that man, so in need of help, who wandered far and wide, after he had sacked the sacred city of Troy " The poem retells how the Greeks built an enormous wooden horse,... and the people of Troy over trade through the Dardanelles From the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems credited to Homer, Greece's master poet of the 8th century B.C., Greeks learned the story of this war In the centuries after Homer, the events narrated in these poems influenced much of Greek life and culture Because all Greeks shared a common language, worshiped the same gods, and observed the. .. do The simplest level of meaning involves listening or reading for pure enjoyment; the next level has the audience analyzing the people and events in order to understand the time period during which the epic was written At the highest level, the audience becomes involved in understanding the poem's spiritual and moral message and in applying it to everyday life The ancient Greeks recognized early the. .. other bards with closed eyes, probably to represent blindness Because there is so little known about Homer, many historians and scholars have disputed his authorship of the Iliad and the Odyssey There are those who do not believe that he ever lived The controversy over the composition of the poems, however, is not recent Even some ancient Greeks questioned Homer's role as author of the works Over the. .. Defeats equaled victories, and the loss of thousands of lives disheartened those who survived Yet it was the gods and goddesses who were mostly responsible for the endless war, because some deities favored the Trojans while others backed the Greeks Neither side was about to acknowledge defeat Another reason for the stalemate was the Greek hero Achilles' refusal to fight until the Greek king Agamemnon returned . for the endless war, because some deities favored the Trojans while others backed the Greeks. Neither side was about to acknowledge defeat. Another reason for the stalemate was the . 241 Glossary 245 Further Reading 247 Index of Ancient Greeks by Profession 250 Index 251 List of Maps The World of the Ancient Greeks, 700 B.C 211 B.C 8 Ancient Greece, 700 . be sure, there were many other Greeks whose work either influenced the people profiled here or who played other, less important roles in the devel- opment of Greek society. There are