Homer is best known in the modern world for The Iliad and The Odyssey, so he would be the best choice. Ovid was the epic poet responsible for the Metamorphoses, but he was Roman, so he would not be the best choice. Virgil was also an influential Roman poet and he did not write the works in question, so he would not be a good choice. Lastly, Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were both famous poets, but they lived many thousands of years after the works in question were written, so they would not be good answers.

Linear B was the written script of the Mycenaean Greeks. It fell into disuse in the immediate aftermath of the decline of the Mycenaean civilization. Linear B was a complicated script and was probably known only by a few, privileged palatial scribes. This helps explain why it was so hastily lost to history during the Greek Dark Ages.

Archilochus is a seventh century BCE lyric poet. Archilochus was one of the most widely esteemed and beloved poets in ancient Greek society. He has been frequently credited (although not definitively) with the invention of the elegy.

The Oracle of Apollo (sometimes called The Oracle at Delphi) was built in northern Greece sometime during the Dark or Archaic ages. It was a place of worship and ceremony for the ancient Greeks. It, along with other oracles, served a very important purpose in Greek religious life. Political and military leaders sought the advice of the holy men who worked and lived at Delphi to try and determine whether the Gods favored the actions they had taken or were considering. Greek rulers would consult the Oracle, for example, before declaring war.

According to legend, the Olympic games were instituted to celebrate the funeral games of Pelops, the grandfather of Agamemnon. Pelops was renowned for sport in mythology. He won his wife, Hippodameia, during a chariot race at nearby Pisa. He then instituted regular athletic contests during his reign. More generally, athletic competitions were typically held at early Greek funerals.

Agamemnon is the fictional king of the Greeks in Homer’s The Iliad. He leads the ancient Greek forces across the Aegean Sea and attacks the city of Troy.

The Trojan War is wrapped in mystery and legend. The finding of a domed citadel by Schliemann, that could have been seen by Homer in his time, proved that Troy did exist and appeared to have been destroyed in battle. The Trojan War Epics written by ancient writers, including Homer, in the first century BCE are based on oral tradition and the heroics and escapades of the Greek gods and goddesses. Virgil wrote the Aeneid to give the Roman Empire a sense of dynasty through its hero Aeneas, a Trojan soldier, who led his soldiers to Carthage before arriving in Rome to establish the Roman Empire. Virgil’s poem has a very loose relationship to the Trojan War as it is a work meant to inspire Romans. But it has no bearing on the Greek civilizations. 

Agamemnon was the fictional king of the ancient Greeks in Homer’s The Iliad. He starts the Trojan War after Helen of Troy, the wife of his brother Menelaus, elopes with Paris, the son of the Trojan king. There is some historical evidence to suggest that Agamemnon may have been a real person, but general historical consensus is that he was a fictional creation of Homer’s, based on a semi-mythological figure who lived in the fourteenth century BCE.

In the Greek mythology of Hesiod, women are portrayed as evil beings sent by Zeus to punish man. This is a common trope of paternalistic societies, that women are portrayed as temptresses who can lure men into evil. Hesiod describes how the original woman, Pandora, opened a box which released evil and sin into the previously peaceful world of man. This idea was caused by the paternal nature of ancient Greek society, but also continued to reinforce and justify this paternalism.

In the Greek mythology of Hesiod, Pandora is the first human woman. She is created by Zeus to punish mankind. Pandora opens the so-called “Pandora’s box,” which releases sin and evil into the world. You may notice how markedly similar this story is to the story of Adam and Eve, something worth thinking about.