A poetry reading is a public oral recitation or performance of poetry . Reading poetry aloud allows the reader to express their own experience through poetry, changing the poem according to their sensibilities. The reader uses pitch and stress, and pauses become apparent. A poetry reading typically takes place on a small stage in a café or bookstore where multiple poets recite their own work. A more prominent poet may be chosen as the " headliner " of such an event and famous poets may also take the stage at a bigger venue such as an amphitheater or college auditorium.
83-518: How early poems like the Illiad were transmitted to audiences is not clear. Modern poetry readings only became popular in the last half of the twentieth century, at least in the United States, with stars like Dylan Thomas and Robert Frost . Live poetry reading competitions, called poetry slams and beginning in the 1980s, also remain popular. Voice is an active, physical thing in oral poetry. It needs
166-418: A " headliner ". Quite how early poems like the Illiad were first experienced by audiences remains not entirely clear. (But see rhapsode ) American poet Donald Hall described the increase in emphasis on public readings of poetry in the United States in a 2012 New Yorker magazine blog post where he recounted it a phenomenon that grew in the last half of the twentieth century. Hall, who speculates that
249-473: A bad omen but is ignored. Hera seduces Zeus and lulls him to sleep, allowing Poseidon to help the Greeks. The Trojans are driven back onto the plain. Ajax wounds Hector, who is then carried back to Troy. Zeus awakes and is enraged by Poseidon's intervention. However, he reassures Hera that Troy is still fated to fall once Hector kills Patroclus. Poseidon is recalled from the battlefield, and Zeus sends Apollo to aid
332-567: A brilliant radiance by Athena, Achilles stands next to the Achaean wall and roars in rage. The Trojans are terrified by his appearance, and the Achaeans manage to bear Patroclus's body away. Polydamas again urges Hector to withdraw into the city; again, Hector refuses, and the Trojans camp on the plain at nightfall. Achilles mourns Patroclus, brokenhearted. Meanwhile, at Thetis's request, Hephaestus fashions
415-572: A coalition of Mycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the siege's final weeks. In particular, it depicts a fierce quarrel between King Agamemnon and a celebrated warrior, Achilles . It is a central part of the Epic Cycle . The Iliad is often regarded as the first substantial piece of European literature . The Iliad and the Odyssey were likely written down in Homeric Greek ,
498-480: A conclusion determines the validity of evidence. Some scholars believe that the gods may have intervened in the mortal world because of quarrels they may have had with each other. Homer interprets the world at this time by using the passion and emotion of the gods to be determining factors of what happens on the human level. An example of one of these relationships in the Iliad occurs between Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite. In
581-427: A duel and exchange unequal gifts, while Glaucus tells Diomedes the story of Bellerophon . Hector enters the city, urges prayers and sacrifices, incites Paris to battle, and bids his wife Andromache and son Astyanax farewell on the city walls. He then rejoins the battle. Hector duels with Ajax , but nightfall interrupts the fight, and both sides retire. The Trojans quarrel about returning Helen. Paris offers to return
664-452: A literary mixture of Ionic Greek and other dialects, probably around the late 8th or early 7th century BC. Homer's authorship was infrequently questioned in antiquity , but contemporary scholarship predominantly assumes that the Iliad and the Odyssey were composed independently and that the stories formed as part of a long oral tradition . The poem was performed by professional reciters of Homer known as rhapsodes . Critical themes in
747-413: A major role in the poem, aiding their favoured warriors on the battlefield and intervening in personal disputes. Their characterisation in the poem humanised them for Ancient Greek audiences, giving a concrete sense of their cultural and religious tradition. In terms of formal style, the poem's repetitions and use of similes and epithets are often explored by scholars. The story begins with an invocation to
830-468: A new set of armor for Achilles, including a magnificently wrought shield . In the morning, Thetis brings Achilles his new set of armor, only to find him weeping over Patroclus's body. Achilles arms for battle and rallies the Achaean warriors. Agamemnon gives Achilles all the promised gifts, including Briseis , but Achilles is indifferent to them. The Achaeans take their meal; Achilles refuses to eat. His horse, Xanthos , prophesies Achilles's death; Achilles
913-554: A poem one morning, I found myself knowing that a new phrase was repellent, but realized it would pass if I intoned it out loud. Watch out. A poem must work from the platform but it must also work on the page." Afroamerican poet Maya Angelou was a friend of Malcolm X , and she performanced poetry reading. Radical poet group The Last Poets performanced poetry reading with African conga, and Gil Scott-Heron play poetry reading with jazz music. Dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson recorded poetry reggae album "Bass Culture" in 1980. A poetry slam
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#1733086066018996-504: A result of this thinking, each god or goddess in polytheistic Greek religion is attributed to an aspect of the human world. For example, Poseidon is the god of the sea, Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, Ares is the god of war, and so on and so forth for many other gods. This is how Greek culture was defined as many Athenians felt the presence of their gods through divine intervention in significant events in their lives. Oftentimes, they found these events to be mysterious and inexplicable. In
1079-406: A speaker and a listener, a performer and an audience. It is a bodily creation that thrives in live connection. The voice is the mechanism by which a "poet's voice" comes alive. Reciting a poem aloud the reciter comes to understand and then to be the 'voice' of the poem. As poetry is a vocal art, the speaker brings their own experience to it, changing it according to their own sensibilities, intonation,
1162-482: A variety of formats for rendering Greek and Greek shorthand using Latin letters. Examples include "8elo" and "thelw" for θέλω , "3ava" for ξανά , and "yuxi" for ψυχή . Owing to the difficulties encountered in transliterating and transcribing both ancient and modern Greek into the Latin alphabet, a number of regulatory bodies have been established. The Hellenic Organization for Standardization (ELOT), in cooperation with
1245-590: A variety of romanizations for names and placenames in the 19th and 20th century. The Hellenic Organization for Standardization (ELOT) issued its system in cooperation with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in 1983. This system was adopted (with minor modifications) by the United Nations ' Fifth Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names at Montreal in 1987, by
1328-636: Is a competitive format that has become increasingly popular, especially in the United States , since its inception in the 1980s. A "slam" is the art of poetry presented in public as is the " open mic " event variant. Illiad On the Greek side: On the Trojan side: The Iliad ( / ˈ ɪ l i ə d / ; Ancient Greek : Ἰλιάς , romanized : Iliás , [iː.li.ás] ; lit. ' [a poem] about Ilion (Troy) ' )
1411-520: Is beaten back by Hephaestus's firestorm. The gods fight amongst themselves. The great gates of the city are opened to receive the fleeing Trojans, and Apollo leads Achilles away from the city by pretending to be a Trojan. When Apollo reveals himself to Achilles, the Trojans have retreated into the city, all except for Hector. Despite the counsel of Polydamas and the pleas of his parents, Priam and Hecuba , Hector resolves to face Achilles. When Achilles approaches, however, Hector's will fails him. He flees and
1494-412: Is chased by Achilles around the city. Finally, Athena tricks him into stopping, and he turns to face his opponent. After a brief duel, Achilles stabs Hector through the neck. Before dying, Hector reminds Achilles that he, too, is fated to die. Achilles strips Hector of his own armor, gloating over his death. Achilles then dishonors Hector's body by lashing it to the back of his chariot and dragging it around
1577-410: Is common to mark the long vowels with macrons over the Latin letters and to leave the short vowels unmarked; such macrons should not be confused or conflated with those used by some systems to mark eta and omega as distinct from epsilon , iota , and omicron . Greece's early Attic numerals were based on a small sample of letters (including heta ) arranged in multiples of 5 and 10, likely forming
1660-465: Is indifferent. Achilles goes into battle, with Automedon driving his chariot. Zeus lifts the ban on the gods' interference, and the gods freely help both sides. Achilles, burning with rage and grief, slays many. Achilles cuts off half the Trojans' number in the river and slaughters them, clogging the river with bodies. The river god, Scamander , confronts Achilles and commands him to stop killing Trojans, but Achilles refuses. They fight until Scamander
1743-405: Is lost in his grief and spends his days mourning Patroclus and dragging Hector's body behind his chariot. Dismayed by Achilles's continued abuse of Hector's body, Zeus decides that it must be returned to Priam. Led by Hermes , Priam takes a wagon filled with gifts out of Troy, across the plains, and into the Achaean camp unnoticed. He clasps Achilles by the knees and begs for his son's body. Achilles
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#17330860660181826-437: Is moved to tears and finally relents in his anger. The two lament their losses in the war. Achilles agrees to give Hector's body back and to give the Trojans twelve days to properly mourn and bury him. Achilles apologizes to Patroclus, fearing he has dishonored him by returning Hector's body. After a meal, Priam carries Hector's body back into Troy. Hector is buried, and the city mourns. Ancient Greek religion had no founder and
1909-506: Is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer . It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the Odyssey , the poem is divided into 24 books and was written in dactylic hexameter . It contains 15,693 lines in its most widely accepted version. Set towards the end of the Trojan War , a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by
1992-673: Is shaped like the Latinate semicolon . Greek punctuation which has been given formal romanizations include: There are many archaic forms and local variants of the Greek alphabet . Beta , for example, might appear as round Β or pointed [REDACTED] throughout Greece but is also found in the forms [REDACTED] (at Gortyn ), [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] ( Thera ), [REDACTED] ( Argos ), [REDACTED] ( Melos ), [REDACTED] ( Corinth ), [REDACTED] ( Megara and Byzantium ), and even [REDACTED] ( Cyclades ). Well into
2075-502: Is the transliteration ( letter -mapping) or transcription ( sound -mapping) of text from the Greek alphabet into the Latin alphabet . The conventions for writing and romanizing Ancient Greek and Modern Greek differ markedly. The sound of the English letter B ( /b/ ) was written as β in ancient Greek but is now written as the digraph μπ , while the modern β sounds like
2158-487: The Iliad as a major piece of evidence for his theory of the Bicameral Mind , which posits that until about the time described in the Iliad , humans had a far different mentality from present-day humans. He says that humans during that time were lacking what is today called consciousness. He suggests that humans heard and obeyed commands from what they identified as gods until the change in human mentality that incorporated
2241-431: The Iliad , Paris challenges any of the Achaeans to a single combat and Menelaus steps forward. Menelaus is dominating the battle and is on the verge of killing Paris. "Now he'd have hauled him off and won undying glory but Aphrodite, Zeus's daughter, was quick to the mark, snapped the rawhide strap." Aphrodite intervenes out of her own self-interest to save Paris from the wrath of Menelaus because Paris had helped her to win
2324-532: The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), released a system in 1983 which has since been formally adopted by the United Nations , the United Kingdom and United States. The following tables list several romanization schemes from the Greek alphabet to modern English. Note, however, that the ELOT, UN, and ISO formats for Modern Greek intend themselves as translingual and may be applied in any language using
2407-478: The Latin alphabet . The American Library Association and Library of Congress romanization scheme employs its "Ancient or Medieval Greek" system for all works and authors up to the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, although Byzantine Greek was pronounced distinctly and some have considered "Modern" Greek to have begun as early as the 12th century. For treatment of polytonic Greek letters —for example, ᾤ —see also
2490-576: The Muse . The events begin in medias res towards the end of the Trojan War, fought between the Trojans and the besieging Achaeans . The Achaean forces consist of armies from many different Greek kingdoms, led by their respective kings or princes. Agamemnon , king of Mycenae , acts as commander for these united armies. Chryses , a priest of Apollo , offers the Achaeans wealth for the return of his daughter Chryseis , held captive by Agamemnon. Although most of
2573-622: The first letter of the pair indicates vowels which should be taken (and romanized) separately. Although the second vowel is not marked with a superfluous diaeresis in Greek, the first-edition ELOT 743 and the UN systems place a diaeresis on the Latin vowel for the sake of clarity. Apart from the diacritical marks native to Greek itself or used to romanize its characters, linguists also regularly mark vowel length with macrons ( ¯ ) marking long vowels and rounded breves ( ˘ ) marking short vowels . Where these are romanized, it
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2656-512: The section on romanizing Greek diacritical marks below. ELOT approved in 1982 the ELOT 743 standard, revised in 2001, whose Type 2 (Greek: Τύπος 2 , romanized: Typos 2 ) transcription scheme has been adopted by the Greek and Cypriot governments as standard for romanization of names on Greek and Cypriot passports . It also comprised a Type 1 (Greek: Τύπος 1 , romanized: Typos 1 ) transliteration table, which
2739-410: The transcriptions of Modern Greek into Latin letters used by ELOT, UN and ISO are essentially equivalent, while there remain minor differences in how they approach reversible transliteration . The American Library Association and Library of Congress romanization scheme employs its "Modern Greek" system for all works and authors following the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. In the table below,
2822-599: The Achaean kings are in favor of the offer, Agamemnon refuses. Chryses prays for Apollo's help, and Apollo sends a plague to afflict the Achaean army. After nine days of plague, Achilles , the leader of the Myrmidon forces and aristos achaion ("best of the Greeks"), calls an assembly to deal with the problem. Under pressure, Agamemnon agrees to return Chryseis to her father but decides to take Achilles's slave, Briseis , as compensation. Because war prizes were correlated with honor, Agamemnon's decision dishonors Achilles in front of
2905-654: The English letter V ( /v/ ) instead. The Greek name Ἰωάννης became Johannes in Latin and then John in English, but in modern Greek has become Γιάννης ; this might be written as Yannis , Jani, Ioannis, Yiannis, or Giannis, but not Giannes or Giannēs as it would be for ancient Greek. The word Άγιος might variously appear as Hagiοs, Agios, Aghios, or Ayios, or simply be translated as " Holy " or " Saint " in English forms of Greek placenames . Traditional English renderings of Greek names originated from Roman systems established in antiquity. The Roman alphabet itself
2988-611: The Gods, allows it. This motif recurs when he considers sparing Hector, whom he loves and respects. This time, it is Athena who challenges him: Father of the shining bolt, dark misted, what is this you said? Do you wish to bring back a man who is mortal, one long since doomed by his destiny, from ill-sounding death and release him? Do it, then; but not all the rest of us gods shall approve you. Again, Zeus appears capable of altering fate, but does not, deciding instead to abide by set outcomes; similarly, fate spares Aeneas after Apollo convinces
3071-557: The Three Fates set the destiny of Man. Kleos ( κλέος , "glory, fame") is the concept of glory earned in heroic battle. Yet Achilles must choose only one of the two rewards, either nostos or kleos . In Book 9 (9.410–16), he poignantly tells Agamemnon's envoys—Odysseus, Phoenix, and Ajax—begging his reinstatement to battle about having to choose between two fates ( διχθαδίας κήρας , 9.411). The passage reads: Romanization of Ancient Greek Romanization of Greek
3154-419: The Trojans can assail the Achaean wall. They camp in the field to attack at first light, and their watchfires light the plain like stars. Meanwhile, the Achaeans are desperate. Agamemnon admits his error and sends an embassy composed of Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix , and two heralds to offer Briseis and extensive gifts to Achilles, if only he will return to the fighting. Achilles and his companion Patroclus receive
3237-443: The Trojans until their ships are at risk of burning. Only then will Agamemnon realize how much the Achaeans need Achilles and restore his honor. Thetis does so, and Zeus agrees. Zeus then sends a dream to Agamemnon, urging him to attack Troy. Agamemnon heeds the dream but first decides to test the Achaean army's morale by telling them to go home. But nine years into the war, the soldiers' morale has worn thin. The plan backfires, and only
3320-462: The Trojans. Achilles says that after all has been made right, he and Patroclus will take Troy together. Patroclus leads the Myrmidons into battle and arrives as the Trojans set fire to the first ships. The Trojans are routed by the sudden onslaught, and Patroclus begins his assault by killing Zeus's son Sarpedon , a leading ally of the Trojans. Patroclus, ignoring Achilles's command, pursues and reaches
3403-452: The Trojans. The Trojans once again breach the wall, and the battle reaches the ships. Patroclus cannot stand to watch any longer and goes to Achilles, weeping. He briefly admonishes him for his stubbornness and then asks him to allow him to fight in his place, wearing Achilles's armor so that he will be mistaken for him. Achilles relents and lends Patroclus his armor but sends him off with a stern admonition to come back to him and not to pursue
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3486-606: The United Kingdom's Permanent Committee on Geographical Names for British Official Use (PCGN) and by the United States' Board on Geographic Names (BGN) in 1996, and by the ISO itself in 1997. Romanization of names for official purposes (as with passports and identity cards) were required to use the ELOT system within Greece until 2011, when a legal decision permitted Greeks to use irregular forms (such as " Demetrios " for Δημήτριος ) provided that official identification and documents also list
3569-428: The assembled Achaean forces. Achilles furiously declares that he and his men will no longer fight for Agamemnon. Odysseus returns Chryseis to her father, causing Apollo to end the plague. In the meantime, Agamemnon's messengers take Briseis away. Achilles becomes very upset and prays to his mother, Thetis , a minor goddess and sea nymph. Achilles asks his mother to ask Zeus to allow the Achaeans to be beaten back by
3652-432: The beauty pageant. The partisanship of Aphrodite towards Paris induces constant intervention by all of the gods, especially to give motivational speeches to their respective protégés, while often appearing in the shape of a human being they are familiar with. This connection of emotions to actions is just one example out of many that occur throughout the poem. Fate ( κήρ , kēr , 'fated death') propels most of
3735-428: The body. When Achilles hears of Patroclus's death, he screams so loudly in his grief that his mother, Thetis, hears him from the bottom of the ocean. Thetis grieves too, knowing that Achilles is fated to die young if he kills Hector. Though he knows it will seal his own fate, Achilles vows to kill Hector in order to avenge Patroclus. Achilles is urged to help retrieve Patroclus's body but has no armor to wear. Bathed in
3818-522: The change may have been due to the star power of Dylan Thomas (1914-1953), wrote, "It used to be that one poet in each generation performed poems in public. In the twenties, it was Vachel Lindsay , who sometimes dropped to his knees in the middle of a poem. Then Robert Frost took over, and made his living largely on the road." Hall suggests that poetry readings have shifted the focus of poetry more towards sound, adding that "In concentrating on sound, as in anything else, there are things to beware of. Revising
3901-406: The city. The Trojans grieve. The ghost of Patroclus comes to Achilles in a dream, urging him to carry out the burial rites so that his spirit can move on to the underworld. Patroclus asks Achilles to arrange for their bones to be entombed together in a single urn; Achilles agrees, and Patroclus's body is cremated. The Achaeans hold a day of funeral games, and Achilles gives out the prizes. Achilles
3984-436: The classical Greek alphabet such as heta ( Ͱ & ͱ ), meanwhile, usually take their nearest English equivalent (in this case, h ) but are too uncommon to be listed in formal transliteration schemes. Uncommon Greek letters which have been given formal romanizations include: The sounds of Modern Greek have diverged from both those of Ancient Greek and their descendant letters in English and other languages. This led to
4067-620: The ear, the silent reading eye thereof, thereafter, hears what it is seeing. Sound that was imagined through the eye gradually gave body to poems in performance. A public reading is typically given on a small stage in a café or bookstore , although reading by prominent poets frequently are booked into larger venues such as amphitheaters and college auditoriums, 'to take poetry public'. Poetry readings almost always involve poets reading their own work or reciting it from memory but readings often involve several readers (often called "featured poets" or "featureds"), although one poet can be chosen as
4150-480: The embassy well. However, considering the slight to his honor too great, Achilles angrily refuses Agamemnon's offer and declares that he will only return to battle if the Trojans reach his ships and threaten them with fire. The embassy returns empty-handed. Later that night, Odysseus and Diomedes venture out to the Trojan lines, kill the Trojan Dolon , and wreak havoc in the camps of some Thracian allies of Troy. In
4233-462: The events of the Iliad . Once set, gods and men abide it, neither truly able nor willing to contest it. How fate is set is unknown, but it is told by the Fates and by Zeus through sending omens to seers such as Calchas . Men and their gods continually speak of heroic acceptance and cowardly avoidance of one's slated fate. Fate does not determine every action, incident, and occurrence, but it does determine
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#17330860660184316-465: The final book of the poem, Homer writes, "He offended Athena and Hera—both goddesses." Athena and Hera are envious of Aphrodite because of a beauty pageant on Mount Olympus in which Paris chose Aphrodite to be the most beautiful goddess over both Hera and Athena. Wolfgang Kullmann further goes on to say, "Hera's and Athena's disappointment over the victory of Aphrodite in the Judgement of Paris determines
4399-404: The first rather than the second vowel letter, or by having a diaeresis ( ¨ ) over the second letter. For treatment of accents and diaereses —for example, ϊ —also see the section on romanizing Greek diacritical marks below. The traditional polytonic orthography of Greek uses several distinct diacritical marks to render what was originally the pitch accent of Ancient Greek and
4482-408: The first writers to name and describe the gods' appearance and character. Mary Lefkowitz discusses the relevance of divine action in the Iliad , attempting to answer the question of whether divine intervention is a discrete occurrence (for its own sake) or if such godly behaviors are mere human character metaphors. The intellectual interest of Classic-era authors, such as Thucydides and Plato ,
4565-428: The gates of Troy, where Apollo himself stops him. Patroclus kills Hector's brother Cebriones , is set upon by Apollo and Euphorbos , and is finally killed by Hector. Hector takes Achilles's armor from the fallen Patroclus. The Achaeans fight to retrieve Patroclus's body from the Trojans, who attempt to carry it back to Troy at Hector's command. Antilochus is sent to tell Achilles the news and asks him to help retrieve
4648-501: The goddess's wrist. Apollo faces Diomedes and warns him against warring with gods, which Diomedes ignores. Apollo sends Ares to defeat Diomedes. Many heroes and commanders join in, including Hector, and the gods supporting each side try to influence the battle. Emboldened by Athena, Diomedes wounds Ares and puts him out of action. Hector rallies the Trojans and prevents a rout. Diomedes and the Trojan Glaucus find common ground after
4731-487: The hands of Aiakos' great son, Achilleus. Here, Patroclus alludes to his fated death by Hector's hand and to Hector's fated death by Achilles's hand. Each accepts the outcome of his life, yet no one knows if the gods can alter fate. The first instance of this doubt occurs in Book 16. Seeing Patroclus about to kill Sarpedon, his mortal son, Zeus says: Ah me, that it is destined that the dearest of men, Sarpedon, must go down under
4814-399: The hands of Menoitios' son Patroclus. About his dilemma, Hera asks Zeus: Majesty, son of Kronos, what sort of thing have you spoken? Do you wish to bring back a man who is mortal, one long since doomed by his destiny, from ill-sounding death and release him? Do it, then; but not all the rest of us gods shall approve you. In deciding between losing a son or abiding fate, Zeus, King of
4897-590: The inspiration for the later Etruscan and Roman numerals . This early system was replaced by Greek numerals which employed the entire alphabet, including the nonstandard letters digamma , stigma , or sigma-tau (placed between epsilon and zeta), koppa (placed between pi and rho), and sampi (placed after omega). As revised in 2001, ELOT 743 provides for the uncommon characters to be given (in Greek) as $ for stigma, + for koppa, and / for sampi. These symbols are not given lower-case equivalents. When used as numbers,
4980-422: The intervention of Odysseus, inspired by Athena , stops a rout . Odysseus confronts and beats Thersites , a common soldier who voices discontent about fighting Agamemnon's war. The Achaeans deploy in companies upon the Trojan plain. When news of the Achaean deployment reaches King Priam , the Trojans respond in a sortie upon the plain. The armies approach each other, but before they meet, Paris offers to end
5063-763: The letters are used in combination with the upper keraia numeral sign ⟨ ʹ ⟩ to denote numbers from 1 to 900 and in combination with the lower keraia ⟨ ͵ ⟩ to denote multiples of 1000. ( For a full table of the signs and their values, see Greek numerals .) These values are traditionally romanized as Roman numerals , so that Αλέξανδρος Γ' ο Μακεδών would be translated as Alexander III of Macedon and transliterated as Aléxandros III o Makedṓn rather than Aléxandros G' or Aléxandros 3 . Greek laws and other official documents of Greece which employ these numerals, however, are to be formally romanized using "decimal" Arabic numerals . Ancient Greek text did not mark word division with spaces or interpuncts , instead running
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#17330860660185146-561: The literary Trojan War of the Iliad , the Olympian gods, goddesses, and minor deities fight among themselves and participate in human warfare, often by interfering with humans to counter other gods. Unlike their portrayals in Greek religion, Homer's portrayal of gods suits his narrative purpose. The gods in traditional thought of 4th-century Athenians were not spoken of in terms familiar to the works of Homer. The Classical-era historian Herodotus says that Homer and Hesiod , his contemporary, were
5229-502: The matter of sound making sense; controlled through pitch and stress, poems are full of invisible italicized contrasts. Reading poetry aloud also makes clear the "pause" as an element of poetry. "The hearing knowledge we bring to a line if poetry is a knowledge of patterns of speech we have known since we were infants." Every speaker intuitively course through manipulations of sounds, almost as if we sing to each other all day. Even after three millennia of writing, poetry retains its appeal to
5312-528: The modern period, classical and medieval Greek was also set using a wide array of ligatures , symbols combining or abbreviating various sets of letters, such as those included in Claude Garamond 's 16th-century grecs du roi . For the most part, such variants—as ϖ and [REDACTED] for π , ϛ for σ τ , and ϗ for και —are just silently emended to their standard forms and transliterated accordingly. Letters with no equivalent in
5395-424: The morning, the fighting is fierce, and Agamemnon, Diomedes, and Odysseus are all wounded. Achilles sends Patroclus from his camp to inquire about the Achaean casualties, and while there, Patroclus is moved to pity by a speech by Nestor . Nestor asks Patroclus to beg Achilles to rejoin the fighting, or if he will not, to lead the army wearing Achilles's armor. The Trojans attack the Achaean wall on foot. Hector leads
5478-412: The motivating force into the conscious self. He points out that almost every action in the Iliad is directed, caused, or influenced by a god and that earlier translations show an astonishing lack of words suggesting thought, planning, or introspection. Those that do appear, he argues, are misinterpretations made by translators imposing a modern mentality on the characters, a form of reverse logic by which
5561-694: The mysterious origin of fate is a power beyond the gods. Fate implies the primeval, tripartite division of the world that Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades effected in deposing their father, Cronus , for its dominion. Zeus took the Air and the Sky, Poseidon the Waters, and Hades the Underworld , the land of the dead—yet they share dominion of the Earth. Despite the earthly powers of the Olympic gods, only
5644-474: The outcome of life—before killing him, Hector calls Patroclus a fool for cowardly avoidance of his fate, by attempting his defeat; Patroclus retorts: No, deadly destiny, with the son of Leto, has killed me, and of men it was Euphorbos; you are only my third slayer. And put away in your heart this other thing that I tell you. You yourself are not one who shall live long, but now already death and powerful destiny are standing beside you, to go down under
5727-496: The overmatched Trojan to fight Achilles. Poseidon cautiously speaks: But come, let us ourselves get him away from death, for fear the son of Kronos may be angered if now Achilleus kills this man. It is destined that he shall be the survivor, that the generation of Dardanos shall not die… Divinely aided, Aeneas escapes the wrath of Achilles and survives the Trojan War. Whether or not the gods can alter fate, they do abide by it, despite its countering their human allegiances; thus,
5810-429: The poem include kleos (glory), pride, fate and wrath. Despite being predominantly known for its tragic and serious themes, the poem also contains instances of comedy and laughter. The poem is frequently described as a masculine or heroic epic, especially compared with the Odyssey . It contains detailed descriptions of ancient war instruments and battle tactics, and fewer female characters. The Olympian gods also play
5893-418: The presence or absence of word-initial /h/ . In 1982, monotonic orthography was officially introduced for modern Greek. The only diacritics that remain are the acute accent (indicating stress) and the diaeresis (indicating that two consecutive vowels should not be combined). When a Greek diphthong is accented, the accent mark is placed over the second letter of the pair. This means that an accent over
5976-543: The sound: ⟨th⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨rh⟩, and ⟨ch⟩. Because English orthography has changed so much from the original Greek , modern scholarly transliteration now usually renders ⟨κ⟩ as ⟨k⟩ and the diphthongs ⟨αι, οι, ει, ου⟩ as ⟨ai, oi, ei, ou⟩. " Greeklish " has also spread within Greece itself, owing to the rapid spread of digital telephony from cultures using the Latin alphabet . Since Greek typefaces and fonts are not always supported or robust, Greek email and chatting has adopted
6059-427: The special rules for vowel combinations ( αι, αυ, ει, ευ, ηυ, οι, ου, ωυ ) only apply when these letters function as digraphs . There are also words where the same letters stand side by side incidentally but represent separate vowels. In these cases each of the two letters is transcribed separately according to the normal rules for single letters. Such cases are marked in Greek orthography by either having an accent on
6142-537: The terrible fighting, despite an omen that their charge will fail. The Achaeans are overwhelmed and routed, the wall's gate is broken, and Hector charges in. The Achaeans fall back to their ships. Poseidon pities the Achaeans and decides to disobey Zeus and help them. He rallies the Achaeans' spirits, and they begin to push the Trojans back. Poseidon's nephew Amphimachus is killed in the battle; Poseidon imbues Idomeneus with godly power. Many fall on both sides. The Trojan seer Polydamas urges Hector to fall back because of
6225-438: The treasure he took and give further wealth as compensation, but not Helen, and the offer is refused. Both sides agree to a day's truce to burn the dead. The Achaeans also build a wall and trench to protect their camp and ships. The next morning, Zeus prohibits the gods from interfering, and fighting begins anew. The Trojans prevail and force the Achaeans back to their wall. Hera and Athena are forbidden to help. Night falls before
6308-573: The war by fighting a duel with Menelaus , urged by Hector , his brother and hero of Troy . Here, the initial cause of the entire war is explained: Helen , wife of Menelaus, and the most beautiful woman in the world, is either through seduction or by force, taken by Paris from Menelaus's home in Sparta . Menelaus and Paris agree to duel; Helen will marry the victor. However, when Paris is beaten, Aphrodite rescues him and leads him to bed with Helen before Menelaus can kill him. The gods deliberate over whether
6391-433: The war should end here, but Hera convinces Zeus to wait for the utter destruction of Troy. Athena prompts the Trojan archer Pandarus to shoot Menelaus. Menelaus is wounded, and the truce is broken. Fighting breaks out, and many minor Trojans are killed. In the fighting, Diomedes kills many Trojans, including Pandarus, and defeats Aeneas . Aphrodite rescues him before he can be killed, but Diomedes attacks her and wounds
6474-508: The whole conduct of both goddesses in The Iliad and is the cause of their hatred for Paris, the Judge, and his town Troy." Hera and Athena then continue to support the Achaean forces throughout the poem because Paris is part of the Trojans, while Aphrodite aids Paris and the Trojans. The emotions between the goddesses often translate to actions they take in the mortal world. For example, in Book 3 of
6557-463: The words together ( scripta continua ). In the Hellenistic period, a variety of symbols arose for punctuation or editorial marking ; such punctuation (or the lack thereof) are variously romanized, inserted, or ignored in different modern editions. Modern Greek punctuation generally follows French with the notable exception of Greek's use of a separate question mark , the erotimatiko , which
6640-601: Was a form of the Cumaean alphabet derived from the Euboean script that valued Χ as / k s / and Η as / h / and used variant forms of Λ and Σ that became L and S . When this script was used to write the classical Greek alphabet, ⟨κ⟩ was replaced with ⟨c⟩, ⟨αι⟩ and ⟨οι⟩ became ⟨æ⟩ and ⟨œ⟩, and ⟨ει⟩ and ⟨ου⟩ were simplified to ⟨i⟩ (more rarely—corresponding to an earlier pronunciation—⟨e⟩) and ⟨u⟩. Aspirated consonants like ⟨θ⟩, ⟨φ⟩, initial-⟨ρ⟩, and ⟨χ⟩ simply wrote out
6723-470: Was extensively modified in the second edition of the standard. International versions of ELOT 743, with an English language standard document, were approved by the UN (V/19, 1987) and the British and American governments. The ISO approved in 1997 its version, ISO 843 , with a different Type 1 transliteration system, which was adopted four years later by ELOT itself, while the U.N. did not update its version. So
6806-436: Was limited to their utility as "a way of talking about human life rather than a description or a truth", because, if the gods remain religious figures, rather than human metaphors, their "existence"—without the foundation of either dogma or a bible of faiths—then allowed Greek culture the intellectual breadth and freedom to conjure gods fitting any religious function they required as a people. Psychologist Julian Jaynes uses
6889-536: Was not the creation of an inspired teacher. Rather, the religion arose out of the diverse beliefs of the Greek people. These beliefs coincide to the thoughts about the gods in polytheistic Greek religion. Adkins and Pollard agree with this by saying, "The early Greeks personalized every aspect of their world, natural and cultural, and their experiences in it. The earth, the sea, the mountains, the rivers, custom-law (themis), and one's share in society and its goods were all seen in personal as well as naturalistic terms." As
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