CHAPTER I.

_THE PERIODS OF GREEK LITERATURE._

Language and Mythology.--The Five Chief Periods of Greek Literature. The First Period: Homer--Religion and State of the Homeric Age--Achilles and Ulysses.--Second Period: Transition--Breaking-up of the Homeric Monarchies--Colonization--the Nomothetæ--Ionians and Dorians--Development of Elegiac, Iambic, Lyric Poetry--Beginning of Philosophy.--Third Period: Athenian Supremacy--Philosophy at Athens--the Fine Arts--the Drama--History--Sparta and Athens--Pericles and Anaxagoras.--Fourth Period: Hegemony of Sparta--Enslavement of Hellas--Demosthenes--Alexander and Achilles--Aristotle--the Hellenization of the East--Menander--the Orators.--Fifth Period: Decline and Decay--Greek Influence upon the World--Alexandria--the Sciences--Theocritus--the University of Athens--Sophistic Literature--Byzantium--Hellas and Christendom Page 13