I'm intending on following pic related and I'm reading mythology by edith hamilton right now
could someone explain to me why I'm reading this instead of reading the Iliad? I'm clearly an idiot so I just don't understand, it seems like this book so far is just telling me who everybody is and then follows the plot of the Iliad and the odyssey - why shouldn't I just read the actual works immediately if all this book is doing is telling me what happens in the epics? are they that hard to understand?
its a short book so I'll read it anyway, I'm just wondering if there's something I'm missing.
You can skip it but iliad was a story about 3 gods vs 3 others. If you don't understand the nuances of the gods you miss the philosophical point and might as well just watch an action movie
Connor Martinez
Keep in mind all the ancient Greeks understood the nuances of the gods.
Something interesting to note is iliad is very rational. Morals are objective. You could say this would be how Plato would tell a homeric epic. Odyssey is more pluralist. The mc changes to meet his enemies. It speaks of many truths and tries to revitalize ethics for women where in iliad only men were heroes. Rationally only men can be heroes that's why they never are. But odyssey can be thought of as aristotelian.
Nathaniel Peterson
Cambridge classics of literature, Greek literature is good intro
Jeremiah Gray
You shoulda read Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days instead of reading Edith Hamilton if you really wanted to "Start with the Greeks". I've given many people this advice before, but it seems like they just keep falling back into the same hole.
Dominic Ross
Odysseus' wife was made into a hero. There's a lot of nuance to it. The difference between the two truths both stories argue is a historically similar problem humans will and always do face.
Think of iliad as the homeric poem of the far right and odyssey as that of the far left
Dylan Rogers
Just saying: this is a really shitty chart for " Starting with the greeks"
Liam Cook
never heard of these before, I'll look at them thanks.
this makes sense thanks a lot
John Rivera
I don't really like charts but I didn't want to spend time shopping around Yea Forums asking the same question that's undoubtedly been asked a million times already and walk away with 50 different conflicting recommendations
that being said I'm here now so I'd be very happy to hear what you think could be done better
Gavin Morales
But I thought the gods from Homers POV were entirely different and fictional compared to the traditional greek view at the time?
I haven't read the Iliad btw.
Noah Jackson
I prefer this list. The Greeks doesn’t go far enough back.
What do you mean fictional and different? They weren't very different but the difference between the gods were chosen such as the messengers being different. Iliad was rather well kept to the original, you can tell by the use of language you can see where the flourishments came from. Odyssey might've been written by someone else
Carson Diaz
Which modifications would you make to it?
Asher Bailey
i'm up to heroditus now. how essential are oedipus and hesiod? i'm not really interested in reading more poetry, i'd rather just finish the history and philosophy branches.
Jaxon Miller
Hesiod is like the Greek Ovid, he can be important when it comes to understanding the Gods and mythologies of Ancient Greece.
The tragedians are all incredibly worth it, as important as Homer imo. Aeschylus has so many great things.
Christopher Sullivan
user, does that "need to do more research" in red mean the author needs to do more research, or you need to research more on the book?
Josiah Clark
Probably there was never one "traditional view" of the gods that was universal over Greece, and there were probably differences between the gods of the poets and actual religious practice. If you are really interested, it couldn't hurt to also look at the Homeric Hymns. Certainly, some people took the Iliad and Odyssey as authoritative, but others did not. When a lot of religious talk is metaphorical, details such as who Aphrodite's parents are don't need to be consistent. See Plato's Symposium when the Socrates character starts pointing logical errors .
Michael Miller
There's a chart thread up right now with a much better "starting with the greeks" one. Most importantly it has the Alexander Pope Iliad, remember this is a literature board not a philosophy board
Dominic Anderson
I need to do more research and figure out if the Rigveda is a good starting point for Indian lit.
Camden Campbell
Oedipus is referenced in a shitton of later work for what its worth
Literally all you need to know for the Iliad is who the main gods are, and why Helen goes with Paris (ie the beauty contest between hera athena, and aphrodite) That's it. The other stuff is just extra info on greeks beliefs and good stories
David Williams
Or maybe just think of the Odyssey as duty to ones family where as the Iliad focuses on honor and rights from the gods themselves, rather than thinking of it in a political sense
Anthony Collins
>remember this is a literature board not a philosophy board bait
