Editing Greece (section)

=== Literature ===
{{Main|Greek literature|Byzantine literature|Modern Greek literature}}
Greek literature can be divided into three main categories: Ancient, Byzantine and modern Greek.<ref name="britannica">Encyclopædia Britannica – "Greek literature: Byzantine literature"</ref> Athens is considered the birthplace of Western literature.<ref name="Strickland2007">{{cite book|author=Carol Strickland|title=The Illustrated Timeline of Western Literature: A Crash Course in Words & Pictures|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qw_7eINO_NcC&pg=PA2|year=2007|publisher=Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.|isbn=978-1-4027-4860-8|page=2|quote=Although the first writing originates in the cradle of civilization along Middle Eastern rivers – the Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile – the true cradle of Western literature is Athens. As the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley says, "We are all Greeks."}}</ref> At the beginning of Greek literature stand the monumental works of [[Homer]]: the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', composed around 800&nbsp;BC or after. In the classical period many of the genres of western literature became more prominent. [[Lyrical poetry]], [[ode]]s, [[pastorals]], [[elegy|elegies]], [[epigrams]]; dramatic presentations of comedy and [[tragedy]]; [[historiography]], [[rhetorical]] treatises, philosophical dialectics, and philosophical treatises all arose in this period. The two major lyrical poets were [[Sappho]] and [[Pindar]]. [[Herodotus]] and [[Thucydides]] are two of the most influential historians in this period.

[[Byzantine literature]] written in [[Attic Greek|Attic]], [[Medieval]] and early [[Modern Greek]], is the expression of the intellectual life of the [[Byzantine Greeks]] during the Christian [[Middle Ages]]. Although ''popular'' Byzantine literature and early [[Modern Greek literature]] both began in the 11th century, the two are indistinguishable.<ref>"The Modern Greek language in its relation to Ancient Greek", [[E. M. Geldart]]</ref>

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| image1            = Konstantinos Kavafis.jpg
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| image2            = Odysseas Elytis 1974.jpg
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| image3            = Giorgos Seferis 1963.jpg
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| footer            = [[Constantine P. Cavafy]]'s work was inspired mainly by the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic past]], while [[Odysseas Elytis]] (''centre'') and [[Giorgos Seferis]] (''right'') were representatives of the Generation of the '30s and [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel laureates in Literature]]
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[[Modern Greek literature]] refers to literature written in common Modern Greek, emerging from late Byzantine times in the 11th century. The Cretan Renaissance poem ''[[Erotokritos]]'' is considered the masterpiece of this period. It is a verse [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] written around 1600 by [[Vitsentzos Kornaros]] (1553–1613). Later, during the period of Greek enlightenment ([[Diafotismos]]), writers such as [[Adamantios Korais]] and [[Rigas Feraios]] prepared with their works the Greek Revolution.

Leading figures of modern Greek literature include [[Dionysios Solomos]], [[Andreas Kalvos]], [[Angelos Sikelianos]], [[Emmanuel Rhoides]], [[Demetrius Vikelas]], [[Kostis Palamas]], [[Penelope Delta]], [[Yannis Ritsos]], [[Alexandros Papadiamantis]], [[Nikos Kazantzakis]], [[Andreas Embirikos]], [[Kostas Karyotakis]], [[Gregorios Xenopoulos]], [[Constantine P. Cavafy|Constantine Cavafy]], [[Nikos Kavvadias]], [[Kostas Varnalis]], and [[Kiki Dimoula]]. Two Greek authors have been awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]]: [[George Seferis]] in 1963, and [[Odysseas Elytis]] in 1979.