The Iliad and the Odyssey: Why Homer?
Marcel Lessard
Mrs. Poliquin
EAE 4U
June 21st 2011
The Iliad and the Odyssey: Why Homer?
The heart of a classical education is the cumulative study of Latin and the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. In the Western tradition, education has always been synonymous with classical education. It began with the Greeks and Romans, was preserved and expanded by Christians during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and continued unabated until well into the twentieth century.
Why study the Greeks and Romans? They are all dead, their civilization is dead and gone, they were pagans, and they weren't even Christians. What do they have to say to us?
Just as Latin is not dead, it is also true that Greece and Rome are not dead. They are immortal in their architecture, art, law, government, languages, mythology, literature, and philosophy. The cultures of Greece and Rome live around and through us every day.
People who study Latin soon see that Latin is everywhere and that they have been speaking and reading Latin all of their lives. Likewise, people who study Greece and Rome soon see that those cultures are everywhere, and they have been living as Greeks and Romans all of their lives.
The story of Greek and Roman literature begins with the story of Troy. Students should read the Iliad and the Odyssey as a part of their curriculum. At first, the warrior culture of these early Greeks seems very alien. They were not sensitive and sentimental like us. They were not politically correct at all. Achilles was certainly not a nice Christian gentleman like The Pope. We don't know many real facts about the Trojan War, and all those silly gods fighting and taking sides. Why don't we read something useful, like a book on the Civil War?
But the Iliad, I discovered, is a book about the Civil War. It is a book about all wars, about the people and characters that you find in every war: the wise, the foolish, the clever, the noble, the base, the ambitious, the women, the old, and
Mrs. Poliquin
EAE 4U
June 21st 2011
The Iliad and the Odyssey: Why Homer?
The heart of a classical education is the cumulative study of Latin and the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome. In the Western tradition, education has always been synonymous with classical education. It began with the Greeks and Romans, was preserved and expanded by Christians during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and continued unabated until well into the twentieth century.
Why study the Greeks and Romans? They are all dead, their civilization is dead and gone, they were pagans, and they weren't even Christians. What do they have to say to us?
Just as Latin is not dead, it is also true that Greece and Rome are not dead. They are immortal in their architecture, art, law, government, languages, mythology, literature, and philosophy. The cultures of Greece and Rome live around and through us every day.
People who study Latin soon see that Latin is everywhere and that they have been speaking and reading Latin all of their lives. Likewise, people who study Greece and Rome soon see that those cultures are everywhere, and they have been living as Greeks and Romans all of their lives.
The story of Greek and Roman literature begins with the story of Troy. Students should read the Iliad and the Odyssey as a part of their curriculum. At first, the warrior culture of these early Greeks seems very alien. They were not sensitive and sentimental like us. They were not politically correct at all. Achilles was certainly not a nice Christian gentleman like The Pope. We don't know many real facts about the Trojan War, and all those silly gods fighting and taking sides. Why don't we read something useful, like a book on the Civil War?
But the Iliad, I discovered, is a book about the Civil War. It is a book about all wars, about the people and characters that you find in every war: the wise, the foolish, the clever, the noble, the base, the ambitious, the women, the old, and