Do I absolutely NEED to read the Iliad and Odyssey? I know this makes me sound like a philistine and an idiot, that's because I am both. Can someone tell me specifically how reading these would benefit me as I move along? Is it just gaining insight into their attitudes and culture and the context in which plato and co. exist? If so why do I need to read this boring shit to understand that? Aren't there some cliff notes somewhere? Honestly goddamn
Do I absolutely NEED to read the Iliad and Odyssey? I know this makes me sound like a philistine and an idiot...
Luke Hughes
Nolan James
If you don’t, you will regret it
Lucas Myers
The Iliad is a great story, though. Check the thread on it in /his/ right now. Even if you disagree with everything, it sure sparks some interesting discussion. Plus, it is one of the 3 most influential works in western culture
Dylan Collins
>it is one of the 3 most influential works in western culture
How is it more influential than
>Euclid's Elements
>Marx's Communist Manifesto
>YHWH's Bible
>Newton's Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
>Darwin's The Origin of Species
Camden Reed
The greeks are old news
Lucas Carter
The Bible and the Republic are the other 2 of the 3 most influential
Logan Cox
What do you mean do you NEED to read them? What do you think the fucking point of reading is you asinine sack of shit? Are you just reading for the clout of it, for the pussy, or for some idea that because you have "read" more books that you somehow have more of a "value" to society than someone else. You don't HAVE to read anything, you should read because you like reading and you like the stories, not because its some bullshit thing that you see people smarter than you on Yea Forums doing and so you want to imitate them. Just read the goddamn books because they are good books, don't read them to complete a fucking info graph.
Joseph Perry
why don't you learn to observe context clues you angry little monkey, clearly I want to read philosophy and have looked at this graph as an introduction to doing so. I have been here long enough to know people insist on reading those two stories and I wanted to know why they are considered necessary in context to what comes afterwards. I don't know why you had that little rant but it sounds more like projection than anything that is relevant to my op.
WHY
WHY WHY WHY
I will look at it, I am decently through the Iliad and I don't actually dislike it, my post has more to do with the fact that I am only reading it because I have been told it's necessary reading for what I want to read and I really don't know why.
Brayden Long
You need to read them because they are literally the cornerstones of western literature, alongside the Bible. Also, they're really great stories with a high testosterone-requirement.
Jose Anderson
Not only do you need to read them both, but you need to read multiple translations of them into your native language and eventually read them in Greek once your Greek is good enough (you are studying Greek, right?).