Homer Dark Age

From 1100 B.C.E - 750 B.C.E., the Greeks suffered through a period of time during which the population declined and food production dropped. Historians refer to this period in history as the Dark Age. The Dark Age was very hard for the Greeks, but numerous developments managed to come out of this period. In fact, near the end of the Dark Age, one of the greatest poets of all time began his work. His name was Homer. Throughout Greek history, we can see the tremendous effect that Homer and his ideas had on the people of Greece and their education. While most historians believe that Homer’s works are not true accounts of Greek history, the Greeks studied his epics as legitimate facts of history. The Greeks didn’t have a lot of true history recorded in their time, so Homer

By studying Homer’s works, men and women learned that doing the right thing and being a good person was much better than immorality. The message was also given that a man of good quality was far greater than a wicked man with great achievements. Greek males poured over the texts of Homer and learned the importance of being excellent, such as the war heroes were. Achilles and Odysseus are both war heroes featured in Homer’s epics that displayed a great amount of excellence. A man should constantly strive to achieve excellence, also known as arete. A man should be courageous, brave and be willing to fight and protect his family. A man with a good reputation brought great honor to his family. All of these qualities were modeled in Homer’s heroic characters. Women benefitted from Homer’s writings, as well. Especially emphasized in the Odyssey was the importance of a wife being faithful to her husband and supporting him. Wives were expected to strive for excellence by showing courage and intellect during her husband’s absence. These qualities were modeled in Penelope, the wife of