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Do not fill this in! === Literature === {{Main|Greek literature|Byzantine literature|Modern Greek literature}} [[File:Roilos-georgios-poets-parnassos-literary-club.jpg|alt=|thumb|''[[Parnassos Literary Society]]'', painted by [[Georgios Roilos]] ([[Kostis Palamas]] is at the center)]] Greek literature can be divided into three main categories: Ancient, Byzantine and modern Greek literature.<ref name="britannica">Encyclopædia Britannica – "Greek literature: Byzantine literature"</ref> Athens is considered the birthplace of Western literature.<ref name="Strickland2007">{{cite book|author=Carol Strickland|title=The Illustrated Timeline of Western Literature: A Crash Course in Words & Pictures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qw_7eINO_NcC&pg=PA2|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4027-4860-8|page=2|quote=Although the first writing originates in the cradle of civilization along Middle Eastern rivers – the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile – the true cradle of Western literature is Athens. As the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley says, "We are all Greeks."}}</ref> At the beginning of Greek literature stand the two monumental works of [[Homer]]: the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]''. Though dates of composition vary, these works were fixed around 800 BC or after. In the classical period many of the genres of western literature became more prominent. [[Lyrical poetry]], [[ode]]s, [[pastorals]], [[elegy|elegies]], [[epigrams]]; dramatic presentations of comedy and [[tragedy]]; [[historiography]], [[rhetorical]] treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises all arose in this period. The two major lyrical poets were [[Sappho]] and [[Pindar]]. The Classical era also saw the dawn of drama. Of the hundreds of [[tragedies]] written and performed during the classical age, only a limited number of plays by three authors have survived: those of [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]], and [[Euripides]]. The surviving plays by [[Aristophanes]] are also a treasure trove of comic presentation, while [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]] are two of the most influential historians in this period. The greatest prose achievement of the 4th century was in philosophy with the works of the three great philosophers. [[Byzantine literature]] refers to literature of the Byzantine Empire written in [[Attic Greek|Atticizing]], [[Medieval]] and early [[Modern Greek]], and it is the expression of the intellectual life of the [[Byzantine Greeks]] during the Christian [[Middle Ages]]. Although ''popular'' Byzantine literature and early [[Modern Greek literature]] both began in the 11th century, the two are indistinguishable.<ref>"The Modern Greek language in its relation to Ancient Greek", [[E. M. Geldart]]</ref> {{multiple image | align = right | direction = horizontal | image1 = Konstantinos Kavafis.jpg | width1 = 99 | alt1 = | caption1 = | image2 = Odysseas Elytis 1974.jpg | width2 = 120 | alt2 = | caption2 = | image3 = Giorgos Seferis 1963.jpg | width3 = 100 | alt3 = | caption3 = | footer = [[Constantine P. Cavafy]], whose work was inspired mainly by the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic past]], while [[Odysseas Elytis]] (centre) and [[Giorgos Seferis]] (right) were representatives of the Generation of the '30s and [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel laureates in Literature]]. | footer_align = left }} [[Modern Greek literature]] refers to literature written in common Modern Greek, emerging from late Byzantine times in the 11th century. The Cretan Renaissance poem ''[[Erotokritos]]'' is considered the masterpiece of this period of Greek literature. It is a verse [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] written around 1600 by [[Vitsentzos Kornaros]] (1553–1613). Later, during the period of Greek enlightenment ([[Diafotismos]]), writers such as [[Adamantios Korais]] and [[Rigas Feraios]] prepared with their works the [[Greek War of Independence|Greek Revolution]] (1821–1830). Leading figures of modern Greek literature include [[Dionysios Solomos]], [[Andreas Kalvos]], [[Angelos Sikelianos]], [[Emmanuel Rhoides]], [[Demetrius Vikelas]], [[Kostis Palamas]], [[Penelope Delta]], [[Yannis Ritsos]], [[Alexandros Papadiamantis]], [[Nikos Kazantzakis]], [[Andreas Embeirikos]], [[Kostas Karyotakis]], [[Gregorios Xenopoulos]], [[Constantine P. Cavafy]], [[Nikos Kavvadias]], [[Kostas Varnalis]] and [[Kiki Dimoula]]. Two Greek authors have been awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: [[George Seferis]] in 1963 and [[Odysseas Elytis]] in 1979. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. 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