... wrote plays in the style Old Comedy, was a great writer of comic plays. His plays reflected the spirit of Athens at that time. Their spirit was that of freedom, vitality and high spirits and their ability to laugh at themselves. Athens was defeated in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, and there was less freedom of speech. With its elements of political and social satire, government leaders ... no longer permitted Old Comedy. Prose had surpassed poetry and verse ... drama by the end of the 400's BC in Greek literature. Historical writings were especially popular. The "Father of History,"...

• Word Count: 1327
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... heroes will embody the values, beliefs, and epics of the civilizations they hail from or represent. The two stated works by Homer are the precursors to hundreds of other poems that contain similar patterns, including Dante's Divine Comedy, and the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. Many epics are based off a certain model, or formula of telling a sequence of events. The Odyssey follows the "long journey ... " model, as it tells the chronicle of Odysseus' trek back home to Ithaca after fighting in the ... literary "roundness", or, "completion" that adds interest to the plotline. The Odyssey is one of t...

• Word Count: 886
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

... And in this sense, The Iliad, though it may have stopped during a time of truce, was the greater tragedy, where The Aeneid, ending with mortal combat, was the greater comedy. And where the rest of each book may have replicated the other, this ending was the deciding factor that ... organizes many different stories. Virgil also parallels many elements in Homer's epics. He uses the same gods but with Latin names, his character visit's the underworld, there is a big storm and epic games, and there is a long narration of the outcomes of the battle of Troy. Virgil also differs from Homer. His...

• Word Count: 8864
• Approx Pages: 35
• Grade Level: High School