Epic of Gilgamesh – Mesopotamian writing
Epic of Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fight the monster Humbaba, on an Assyrian cylinder seal from the 600s BC The real king Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh is [...]
15
09, 2017
3
08, 2017
Medieval literature – Europe
Medieval Book (Cluny Museum, Paris) In the Early Middle Ages, as the Roman Empire was collapsing, the new power of Christianity inspired Augustine, in North Africa, and Pope Gregory the Great in Italy. They [...]
26
07, 2017
Shahnameh – Islamic Literature
Death of Iskandar (Alexander), from the Great Mongol Shahnameh (Iran, 1330s AD) In the 900s AD, Central Asia was the most civilized part of the world. The universities and libraries of [...]
10
07, 2017
Odyssey – Homer – Summary
Odysseus and his men put out the eye of the Cyclops, Polyphemos (ca. 660 BC) Homer wrote the Odyssey The Greek poet Homer wrote down the Odyssey around 700 BC, [...]
10
07, 2017
Homer’s Iliad – Summary
Homer's Iliad: Achilles, on a Greek black-figure vase from around 530 BC What is the story of the Iliad? "Sing, Goddess, of the anger of Achilles..." The story of Homer's [...]
10
07, 2017
Who was Homer? Greek epic literature
Cup by Sophilos, showing a race from the Iliad by Homer (as the inscription says - Athens, ca. 570 BC) Why is Homer important? To the classical Greeks, Homer's epics [...]
10
07, 2017
Greek literature – ancient Greece
Greek literature: the poet Sappho There's a lot of it The Greeks wrote a great deal, and a surprising amount of what they wrote is still available to us today, [...]
31
05, 2017
Epic of King Gesar – Central Asian stories
When the Tibetan people formed their first powerful kingdom, in the Middle Ages, they also began to compose epic poetry for the first time, and this is what they wrote. In the [...]
