For writing at this level, there was a series of exercises, again proceeding from the simple to the complex. There was a unity to their logic: the goal of these was to improve one’s oratorical abilities, so the emphasis was on argumentation and style. The first exercise, for example, was for the student to retell a short and simple story that he had read or had read to him. Another exercise would impose a limit on the number of lines. Marrou describes one of the more advanced exercises, usually based on a saying or an action of a famous person. Let’s go back to a saying we encountered a short while ago:
Suppose he was given the following: “Isocrates says, ‘The roots of education are bitter but the fruits thereof are sweet.” This had to be …show more content…
3. A brief defence of his opinion.
4. Proof by contrast, refuting the contrary opinion.
5. Illustration by analogy.
6. Illustration by anecdote – borrowed from Demosthenes, for example.
7. Quotations from old authorities in support – Hesiod, etc.
8. Conclusion: “Such is Isocrates’ excellent saying about education.”
Over our heads, no doubt, but it serves to show the sophistication achieved in Greek secondary education.
Homer
Now that we’ve seen the basics of Greek literary studies, we can turn to the star of this section, the most famous Greek writer of all time, the epic poet Homer. But first we require some very basic Greek history. The “Golden Age” of ancient Greece was during the 400’s BC, give and take a century. But a full millennium before then there was a flourishing, highly developed Greek civilization in Mycenae. In about 1200 BC, this civilization was destroyed by invaders who pushed Greece into a dark age that lasted several centuries. By the 700’s BC, …show more content…
Although the city states such as Athens and Sparta spoke different dialects of Greek and frequently quarreled with each other, there was never a time when they didn’t feel a sense of family, no matter the politics of the day. In the end, a Greek was a Greek, and the Iliad and the Odyssey belonged to all of
Suppose he was given the following: “Isocrates says, ‘The roots of education are bitter but the fruits thereof are sweet.” This had to be …show more content…
3. A brief defence of his opinion.
4. Proof by contrast, refuting the contrary opinion.
5. Illustration by analogy.
6. Illustration by anecdote – borrowed from Demosthenes, for example.
7. Quotations from old authorities in support – Hesiod, etc.
8. Conclusion: “Such is Isocrates’ excellent saying about education.”
Over our heads, no doubt, but it serves to show the sophistication achieved in Greek secondary education.
Homer
Now that we’ve seen the basics of Greek literary studies, we can turn to the star of this section, the most famous Greek writer of all time, the epic poet Homer. But first we require some very basic Greek history. The “Golden Age” of ancient Greece was during the 400’s BC, give and take a century. But a full millennium before then there was a flourishing, highly developed Greek civilization in Mycenae. In about 1200 BC, this civilization was destroyed by invaders who pushed Greece into a dark age that lasted several centuries. By the 700’s BC, …show more content…
Although the city states such as Athens and Sparta spoke different dialects of Greek and frequently quarreled with each other, there was never a time when they didn’t feel a sense of family, no matter the politics of the day. In the end, a Greek was a Greek, and the Iliad and the Odyssey belonged to all of