Midterm Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Midterm - Assignment Example The fall of this age credited with the Dorian Invasion, which is believed to have happened around 1100 B.C., and which came to be the conclusive deathblow to the Minoan civilization (Lawall & Maynard 24). According to Greek legend, it was in this age that the Oedipus tragedy evolved, and the story later depicted in Aeschylus' Oresteia played out. This was the time of the famous Trojan War, which left the Trojans and Greeks alike bereft of some of their most beloved and courageous men who died as heroes on the incarnadine battle fields (Lawall & Maynard 34). This was the time of the wonderings of Aeneas and Odysseus after the war, and a time where the inhabitants of Mount Olympus interacted with the humans more than ever. Homer did not live during the time, which is named after him. He is believed to have lived three hundred years after the Homeric Age of which he wrote about in his epic poems (35). He is, of course, our most important literary source for knowledge of this period, com bining the history, religion, myth, and lore of many generations (Lawall & Maynard 37). The political institutions of the Homeric Greeks were exceedingly primitive. ... Practically his only functions were military and priestly. He commanded the army in time of war and offered sacrifices to keep the gods on the good side of the community (Lawall & Maynard 48). Although each little group of villages had its council of nobles and assembly of warriors, of these bodies had neither any definite membership nor status as an organ of government. The duties of the former were to advise and assist the king and prevent him from usurping despotic powers. The  functions of the latter were to ratify declarations of war and assent to the conclusion of peace (Lawall & Maynard 50). Almost without exception, custom took the place of law, and the administration of justice was private. Even willful murder was punishable only by the family of the victim. While it is true that the king for settlement, he acted in such cases merely as an arbitrator, not as a judge. As a matter of fact, the political consciousness of   the Greeks of this time was so poorly developed tha t they had no conception of government as an indispensable agency for the preservation of social order. When Odysseus, king of Ithaca , was absent for twenty years , no regent was appointed in his place , and no session of the council or assembly was held. No one seemed to think that the complete suspension of government, even for so long a time, was a matter of any critical importance. Just before the violent Doric invasions, the Achaeans fought the Trojans of Asia Minor. The chronicle of that war, the Iliad, furnishes the first clear picture of the early Greek religion as it evolved from a blending of Achaean, Dorian, Minoan, Egyptian, and Asian elements. This phase of Greek religion called Homeric, after the