Unit #2 Essay

Write a three to five-page (1,250-word) essay. Please be sure to cite all your sources.

The earliest surviving literary work in Western civilization is The Iliad by Homer. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, composed around 800 B.C., are fundamental sources of the culture and literature of the Western world, and the oldest epics in western tradition. Discuss the characteristics of the ancient hero as seen in these readings, and define the specific features of the epic genre.