Oedipus The King Odyssey And Greek Culture English Literature Essay

Present civilization can be considered an evolved version of the Greek, Hebrew, Roman, and Mesopotamian civilizations. Whether it is through literature, authorities, or merely manner of life, there are many ways that the aforesaid civilizations have influenced the present. The Greeks created the construct of a city state, a metropolis which controls its ain authorities and is the district. The two most celebrated city states of Greece were Athens and Sparta. A modern city state would be Singapore. Washington D.C. can besides be considered a city state. D.C. is the US capital that is besides considered a province, even though it is non one of the 50 provinces. The Greeks called their city states a Polis. Polis is still used to depict a metropolis in modern times. Some illustrations would be Metropolis, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, and Annapolis. The Greeks were besides celebrated for their innovation of the democracy. Merely as we have media and leaders influence us in our vote determination, the Greeks besides had people to “ assist ” them decide on. Though it was n’t every bit safe to roast a campaigner back so as it is now, many writers or literature figures used their work to assail authorities determinations and figures. The Romans subsequently on went on to germinate this to the following degree. Aristophanes, considered to be the Father of Comedy, wrote the book Lysistrata. Lysistrata was fundamentally an onslaught on The Peloponnesian War. Similar to protests of war in modern times, Lysistrata is fundamentally on work stoppage and gets the backup of many others ( adult females ) that lead to the peace of the work forces. This narrative was one of the first narratives of its sort, puting a adult female as a hero.

The Grecian piece known as Odyssey has put an influence on several modern narratives. One of the chief narratives so happens to be a film called O Brother Where Art Thou. Even though the film is merely slackly based, there are still features in the film that put the Odyssey in modern yearss. Taking pieces of the Odyssey and utilizing it for our civilization is similar to what the Romans done with Grecian civilization, non needfully by doing it better but by interpreting it into their ain footings. The Odyssey was based in Ancient Greece and O Brother Where Art Thou was based in the 1930 ‘s in the Deep American South. Another similarity between the Ancient Greeks and modern Americans is the fact that both states can barely remain out of a war. And with war, brings anti-war protests. Every narrative that has come out of Ancient Greece has had some tie to being in war.

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Another ancient piece to last was Oedipus the King, which was written by Sophocles. It is considered a calamity because of the destiny of the supporter. There seemed to be a batch of predestination in the narrative. He was told that he was supposed to get married his ain female parent and it was so. This is non so much something we would see as fortunate in modern times. He is besides predestined to kill his male parent and it besides becomes true. In both of these incidents, none of the chief characters are cognizant of the relation between one another. It is interesting to see Tiresias the blind prophesier in the narrative, being that he was besides in the Odyssey. The turns in this narrative more than probably influenced any turn in narratives in the hereafter from B.C. to now. Creon, his brother-in-law and possible uncle, informs Oedipus about the pestilence, which has to make with King Laius ‘s liquidator ne’er being found. Oedipus, unaware that he is in fact the liquidator, is in indignation and curses the liquidator. While reading Oedipus the King, I began to recognize that this was like an ancient version of Maury. Laius was the male parent. He was the male parent of Oedipus, whom Oedipus slayings and so marries his female parent Queen Jocasta. With Jocasta he has two girls, which are besides his two sisters. With all the play traveling on, Jocasta commits self-destruction and blinds himself before being taken off.

Sophocles influenced literature besides by making subsequences. In today ‘s civilization, you ca n’t travel anyplace without hearing about a subsequence to a film or a book coming out. Sophocles made Oedipus the King and two following narratives. Those two would be Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone. Oedipus at Colonus is fundamentally about the destiny of Oedipus after being sent off. Antigone is a narrative about one of his girls and her destiny. The narrative of Antigone looks as if it was more tragic than its old narratives because of all the self-destructions that occur in the narrative.

Without the Ancient Greeks, what would literature be like now? Would at that place be any? The Greeks innovated the art of moving and dramas. Even before composing, they would state narratives through vocalizing and moving out as they pass on unwritten tradition. This ulterior developed into play and dramas when the Greeks developed a system of composing. The Greeks were by far the earliest histrions known to us. If they had non began moving, we would likely hold ne’er seen a Shakespeare, Broadway, and telecasting. The ancient Grecian histrions performed in theaters much similar to the 1s we would see today. The ground is that the Greeks developed the thought of and design of the bowls and theatres we see today. The Greeks were advanced at their clip, even composing a narrative of a adult male traveling to the Moon. This became true in the modern age when American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the Moon in 1969.

On top of everything else the Greeks did, their faith is a topic to many things to this twenty-four hours. Demigods, half adult male half god existences, were idolized at their clip merely as a super hero to a kid or Jesus Christ to the Christians. In some facets, Jesus can be viewed as a superman because of the fact that he is the boy of God and the Virgin Mary. Although the Greeks were beat to the thoughts of supermans by the Mesopotamians with Gilgamesh, they were still to a great extent influential to the thought. Overall, some Grecian narratives are still being refashion to this twenty-four hours. Movies and books about characters, fictional or nonfictional, are viewed by many.

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