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1. Circumstances of heros' births are unusual. 2. Heroes usually come from royalty. 3. Heroes have a victory of a king, magical creature/wild beast, and go on many journeys. 4. The hero loses favor with gods. 5. Heroes have mysterious deaths.
Greek literature refers to writings composed in areas of Greek influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects, have existed.
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celebrated orators were Antiphon , Andocides , Lysias , Isocrates , Isaeus, Lycurgus , Aeschines , and, considered the greatest of all, Demosthenes . "Classical" Greek literature is said to have ended with the deaths of Aristotle and Demosthenes (c.322 BC). The greatest writers of the classical era have certain characteristics in common: economy of words, direct expression, subtlety of thought, and attention to form. Later Greek Literature The next period of Greek literature reached its zenith in Hellenistic Alexandria, where a number of major philosophers, dramatists, poets, historians, critics, and librarians wrote and taught. New genres such as bucolic poetry emerged during the Hellenistic period, a time also characterized by scholarly editions of classics from earlier periods. The poems of Callimachus , the bucolics of Theocritus , and the epic ofApollonius Rhodius are recognized as major works of world literature. The production of literary works at the time of the establishment of Roman control of the Mediterranean was enormous, a vast heterogeneous mixture ranging from the sublime to the pedantic and turgid. A great portion of the works produced have been lost. With the Roman political subjugation of Greece, Greek thought and culture, introduced largely by slave-tutors to the Roman aristocracy, came to exert enormous influence in the Roman world. Among the greatest writers of this period were the historians Polybius , Josephus , and Dio Cassius ; the biographer Plutarch ; the philosophers Philo and Dio Chrysostom ; and the novelist Lucian . One great Roman work produced under Greek influence was the philosophical meditations of Marcus Aurelius . With the spread of Christianity, Greek writing took a new turn, and much of the writing of the Greek Fathers of the Church is eloquent. Religion dominated the literature of the Byzantine Empire, and a vast treasury of writing was produced that is not generally well known to the West The most notable exception is the work of some historians (e.g., Procopius , Anna Comnena , George Acropolita, and Emperor John VI ) and some anthologists (e.g., Photius