Role Of Greek And Roman Literature
...has affected art, religion, philosophy, science and mathematics, medicine, drama, and poetry profoundly. It has served as a basic model for the development of later European literatures and, consequently, the writings of the historians, geographers, philosophers, scientists, and rhetoricians are read today as sources of historical information and enjoyment.
Alfred Whitehead, the famous British philosopher-mathematician, once commented that: "[A]ll philosophy is but a footnote to Plato" (Comptons Encyclopedia). A similar point can be made regarding Greek literature as a whole. The Greek world of thought was far ranging and ideas discussed today have been previously debated by ancient writers. In fact, until recently, in Western culture, an acquaintance with classical Latin (as well as Greek) literature was basic to a liberal education. Roman literature such as epic and lyric poetry, rhetoric, history, comic drama and satire (the last genre being the only literary form that the Romans invented) serve as today's backbone for a basic understanding of expression and artistic creativity, as well as history.
Greek comedies such as those of Naevius and Andronicus, as well as historical writings in epic poems (First Punic War), tell the story of Rome and its conquests and served as prototypes for Aroman epics. Later poets imitated early Roman writers as they used these early writings for springboards into further development of drama. For example, Plautus's lively plays were a model for much subsequent European comedy and are still performed today (encarta.msn).
Epic Greek poetry was exclusively in verse, but evolved from the folk ballads of early people of Greece who had an oral literature composed of songs about the actions of their heroes. Mythical and heroic events that are not celebrated in the Homeric works became the subject matter of...
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