What purposes did the homer's Iliad and the odyssey serve for ancient Greeks?

Answer 1

For the Ancient Greeks the Iliad and The Odyssey told them how Greece had come to be the dominant power in the western Mediterranean, and also showed them what sort of people their gods were, and how those gods behaved.

The Iliad and the Odyssey (and possibly some other epics, which have now been lost) were what the Greeks had instead of history books, and also what they had instead of a Bible.

Answer 2

Among the earliest Greek writings are two great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, by a poet namedHomer. Like most epics, both poems describe the deeds of great heroes. The heroes in Homer's poems fought in the Trojan War. In this war, the Mycenaean Greeks fought the Trojans, people of the city called Troy.The Iliad tells the story of the last years of the Trojan War. It focuses on the deeds of the Greeks, especially Achilles (uh-KIL-eez), the greatest of all Greek warriors. It describes in great detail the battles between the Greeks and their Trojan enemies.

The Odyssey describes the challenges that the Greek hero Odysseus (oh-DI-see-uhs) faced on his way home from the war. For 10 years after the war ends, Odysseus tries to get home, but many obstacles stand in his way. He has to fight his way past terrible monsters, powerful magicians, and even angry gods.

Both the Iliad and the Odyssey are great tales of adventure. But to the Greeks Homer's poems were much more than just entertainment. They were central to the ancient Greek education system. People memorized long passages of the poems as part of their lessons. They admired Homer's poems and the heroes described in them as symbols of Greece's great history.