CONTENTS.
PAGE | |||
Introduction—Subject and Purposes of the Work | 1 | ||
FIRST PERIOD OF GREEK LITERATURE. | |||
CHAPTER I. | |||
THE RACES AND LANGUAGE OF THE GREEKS. | |||
§ | 1. | General account of the languages of the Indo-Teutonic family | 3 |
§ | 2. | Origin and formation of the Indo-Teutonic languages—multiplicity of their grammatical forms | 4 |
§ | 3. | Characteristics of the Greek language, as compared with the other languages of the Indo-Teutonic family | 6 |
§ | 4. | Variety of forms, inflexions, and dialects in the Greek language | 7 |
§ | 5. | The tribes of Greece, and their several dialects—characteristics of each dialect | 8 |
CHAPTER II. | |||
THE RELIGION OF THE GREEKS. | |||
§ | 1. | The earliest form of the Greek religion not portrayed in the Homeric poems | 11 |
§ | 2. | The Olympic deities, as described by Homer | 12 |
§ | 3. | Earlier form of worship in Greece directed to the outward objects of Nature | ib. |
§ | 4. | Character and attributes of the several Greek deities, as personifications of the powers and objects of Nature | 13 |
§ | 5. | Subsequent modification of these ideas, as displayed in the Homeric description of the same deities | 15 |
CHAPTER III. | |||
EARLIEST POPULAR SONGS. | |||
§ | 1. | First efforts of Greek poetry. Plaintive songs of husbandmen | 16 |
§ | 2. | Description of several of these songs, viz. the Linus | 17 |
§ | 3. | The Ialemus, the Scephrus, the Lityerses, the Bormus, the Maneros, and the laments for Hylas and Adonis | 18 |
§ | 4. | The Pæan, its origin and character | 19 |