Epic
In the first of these periods the student should supplement Professor Jebb’s treatment in the article Greek Literature by the following articles: Epic Poetry (Vol. 9, p. 681), a general sketch of the form by Edmund Gosse; Homer (Vol. 13, p. 626; equivalent to 40 pages of this Guide), by the late Prof. David Binning Monro of Oriel College, Oxford, editor of Homer and author of Grammar of the Homeric Dialect,—and on the “Homeric question” see also the articles Aristarchus and F. A. Wolf; Hesiod (Vol. 13, p. 407), by James Davies, formerly head master Ludlow Grammar School, and John Henry Freese, formerly fellow St. John’s, Cambridge; Cycle (Vol. 7, p. 682; last part of the article); and the cyclic poets, Stasinus, Arctinus, Lesches, and Creophylus.
Elegy
For the elegy see Edmund Gosse’s article Elegy; and on the Greek elegists, the articles Callinus and Tyrtæus for martial poetry, Mimnermus for melancholy verse, Solon for political and ethical poetry, Theognis and Phocylides for the gnomic elegy, and Xenophanes for the use of the measure in didactic philosophical verse. On iambic verse and its Greek writers before the time of the drama see: Iambic, Archilochus, Simonides of Amorgos, and Hipponax.
Lyric Poetry
The third poetic form of the period, one which unfortunately has come down to us only in tantalizingly brief fragments—comparable to the quotations illustrating word-usage in our dictionaries—is the lyric. On this see the general article Lyrical Poetry, by Edmund Gosse, on this form in different literatures, and the sketches of the Greek lyrists the Aeolians Alcaeus (see also the article Alcaics) and Sappho, by Prof. John Arthur Platt, University College, London; Praxilla and Erinna, Sappho’s rivals as lyric poetesses; the Ionian Anacreon (see also the article Anacreontics, by Edmund Gosse); the Dorian Alcman; Stesichorus, Arion and Ibycus; Simonides, who may be called Panhellenic; Pindar (Vol. 21, p. 617; equivalent to 10 pages of this Guide, by Sir R. C. Jebb), the only Greek lyrist whose work has come down to us in any considerable quantity, and whose poems are such remarkable examples of metrical structure; Bacchylides (Vol. 3, p. 121; equivalent to 9 pages of this Guide; also by Sir R. C. Jebb, who was one of the first editors), Pindar’s rival, whose poems until a few years ago were known to us only by brief quotations by grammarians, but who had the good luck to survive in papyrus lately found in Egypt; and Timotheus of Miletus, of whose “Persians” a valuable fragment was found in 1903 in what seems to be the oldest papyrus in existence.
Attic Literature
Comedy
The Attic period has two important developments—the drama, tragic and comic, and the beginnings of a Greek prose. For the drama read the part of Prof. A. W. Ward’s article Drama dealing with the Greek period (Vol. 8, pp. 488–493), and the article Comedy; and the articles on the great dramatists:—the tragedians Thespis, Choerilus, Phrynichus and Pratinas in the earlier period; Aeschylus (Vol. 1, p. 272; equivalent to 12 pages of this Guide), by Arthur Sidgwick, fellow of Corpus Christi, Oxford, and editor of the Oxford text of Aeschylus; Sophocles (Vol. 25, p. 424; equivalent to 12 pages of this Guide), by Lewis Campbell, editor and translator of this poet; and Euripides (Vol. 9, p. 901; equivalent to 15 pages of this Guide), in the main by Sir R. C. Jebb; and the comic poets,—the Sicilian Epicharmus; the representatives of the Attic Old Comedy, Cratinus, Crates, Pherecrates, Eupolis, Phrynichus (not to be confused with the tragic poet of that name), Magnes, Plato (to be distinguished from the philosopher),—all these known to us only by allusions and chance quotations—and Aristophanes (Vol. 2, p. 499; equivalent to 7 pages of this Guide, by Sir R. C. Jebb), the only Greek poet of whom we have complete plays and probably the greatest of the writers of Greek comedy; the names—they are little more—of Eubulus, Antiphanes, Alexis in the Middle Comedy; and in the New Comedy or third period, Philemon, Menander (by J. H. Freese), who was so highly esteemed and so constantly pilfered from by the Roman comic writers, and of whose plays large fragments have been found in the last few years; Diphilus, Apollodorus of Carystus, Posidippus, Rhinthon and Sotades.
History