structural:reformatting, structural:summarization
Literature

Greek literature can be divided into three main categories: Ancient, Byzantine and modern Greek. Athens is considered the birthplace of Western literature. At the beginning of Greek literature stand the monumental works of Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed around 800 BC or after. In the classical period many of the genres of western literature became more prominent. Lyrical poetry, odes, pastorals, 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 Atticizing, 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.

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 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 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.