Greek Epic Cycle

This book is the edited proceedings from the conference 'The Art of Stesichorus' held at St John's College, Oxford, on June 29–30 2012. Contributors include: Ewen Bowie (Oxford), Chris Carey (London), Patrick Finglass (Nottingham), Richard Hunter (Cambridge), Adrian Kelly (Oxford), Ian Rutherford (Reading), Gerson Schade (Berlin), Laura Swift (Open University), Martin West (Oxford).

Pelling, C., Classics for All 2015/08/11

At the beginning of the lyrical parodos of the "Agamemnon", the old men of the chorus declare to possess the authority to speak on behalf of the Achaean army and its king. Once their account of the events at Aulis has reached its emotional peak in the instant preceding Iphigenia's death on the altar of Artemis, the old men give up their authority to narrate. Instead, they choose to be silent. The present article examines this change of plan in light of the previous appearances, in epic and lyric poetry, of the myth of Iphigenia's sacrifice.

In apertura della parodo lirica dell'"Agamennone", il coro di anziani dichiara di essere in possesso dell'autorità per farsi portavoce dell'esercito acheo e del suo re. Una volta che il racconto degli eventi di Aulide, oggetto del canto d'ingresso, è arrivato al suo momento di massima tensione, quello che precede la morte di Ifigenia sull'altare di Artemide, i coreuti rinunciano all'autorità di narrare e scelgono invece il silenzio. L'articolo indaga questo slittamento sulla base delle precedenti attestazioni letterarie (epiche e liriche) del sacrificio di Ifigenia.

This is my annotated translation of ODY 9.  I took three semesters of Homeric Greek with the late Anthony Bolloch at Berkeley, ILIAD 1, 6  and ODY 1, 6, 9 (not all of each book).  Mistakes are mine, not his, but we went over this translation pretty well.

Esperimento di traduzione dell'Iliade di Omero. Libro XIII: 'La battaglia alle navi'. Traduzione interlineare con vocabolario essenziale in linea. La traduzione è accompagnata da commenti e note grammaticali. Il testo dell'Iliade è quello dell'edizione di David B. Monro and Thomas W. Allen, Oxford (1920), disponibile in formato digitale su Perseus Digital Library. Le fonti principali per i commenti sono W. Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900), e R. Janko (ed. Kirk), The Iliad: A Commentary (1994). Altri testi di riferimenti utilizzati - P. Chantraine, J. D. Denniston, W. W. Goodwin etc. - sono citati di volta in volta nel commento. La traduzione è interamente mia, ma ho consultato altre traduzioni quali quelle di A.T. Murray, G. Paduano, R. Calzecchi Onesti e G. Cerri.

This book explores the representation of the gods in Greek hexameter poetry in its many forms, including epic, hymnic and didactic poetry, from the archaic period to late antiquity. Its twenty-five chapters, written by an international team of experts, trace a broad historical arc, reflecting developments in religious thought and practice, and ongoing philosophical and literary-critical engagement with the nature and representation of the divine and the relationship between humans and gods. They proceed from the poems ascribed to Hesiod and Homer and the so-called Cyclic epics, via the Hellenistic poets Apollonius, Callimachus, Aratus and Moschus, to the poets and poems of the third to sixth centuries CE, including Quintus of Smyrna, Triphiodorus, the Cynegetica, Nonnus, Eudocia, Colluthus, the Argonautica of Orpheus and the Sibylline Oracles. An epilogue explores the reception of the Greek "epic" gods by the Roman poets Virgil and Ovid, and by the English poets Tennyson, Walcott and Oswald.

The association between Achilles and Alexander the Great has been accepted based on a few slim pieces of literary evidence. By looking at the work of Andrew Stewart who reaffirms that Alexander imitated Achilles, and by picking apart the sources which he uses, as well as those which were overlooked or discarded, it becomes clear that there were later figures who would benefit from cultivating this association between leaders and Homeric heroes.

Lo studio dei poemi omerici obbliga i critici ad occuparsi di un arco cronologico molto esteso, corrispondente a circa dieci secoli, quelli che intercorrono tra il XVI ed il VI secolo a.C. Perché? Prima di tutto occorre considerare che il contesto culturale dei poemi omerici è rappresentato dalla civiltà micenea, e che questa si è sviluppata nel cosiddetto Tardo Elladico, tra il XVI ed il XII secolo a.C. Le vicende dei due poemi si collocano invece, pressappoco, nel XIII secolo a.C., se è vero che Troia è stata distrutta dagli Achei dell'Iliade nella seconda metà del XIII secolo a.C. (tra il 1240 ed il 1230 a.C.). I poemi omerici raggiungono però la loro forma finale, la forma monumentale che è giunta sino a noi, solo tra la fine del IX e gli inizi del VII secolo a.C. Occorre però considerare ancora una circostanza. In un romanzo storico moderno il critico deve tenere presenti solo due momenti, due periodi: il periodo descritto raccontato nel romanzo, ed il periodo nel quale si collocano lo scrittore stesso ed i suoi lettori. Ma nel caso dei poemi tradizionali – cioè dei poemi tràditi, trasmessi, tramandati - anche il periodo che intercorre tra questi due momenti è di vitale importanza.
La prima parte del libro di Kirk, che qui presento nella traduzione italiana, costituisce un'interessante ed utile introduzione ai poemi omerici, al loro contesto storico e ai meccanismi della loro composizione e trasmissione.

Esperimento di traduzione dell'Iliade di Omero. Libro XIV: 'L'inganno a Zeus'. Traduzione interlineare con vocabolario essenziale in linea. La traduzione è accompagnata da commenti e note grammaticali. Il testo dell'Iliade è quello dell'edizione di David B. Monro and Thomas W. Allen, Oxford (1920) Le fonti principali per i commenti sono W. Leaf, Commentary on the Iliad (1900), e R. Janko (ed. Kirk), The Iliad: A Commentary (1994).

In this essay I examine the different versions of Ajax’ death in the poems of the epic
cycle (Aethiopis, Little Iliad), and in Sophocles’ tragedy. In this context many themes
are dealt with (with reference to Homer and Pindar), but the main aim of the analysis
is to exploit the meaning of the changes in the plot and the different characters
in the tragedy. Since Sophocles follows in many important points the more complex
version of the Little Iliad, he emphasizes the role of Athena, gives a new meaning
to Calchas’ prophecy and places the Ajax’ story in two following days, from the
madness’ beginning to the death.

La genesi di questo studio si deve principalmente alla curiosità nei confronti di un argomento così vasto e così trascurato dal “canone” scolastico e universitario. L’esistenza di un Ciclo Epico, e in particolare di un Ciclo Troiano che coronavano, letteralmente, i capolavori omerici è un fatto appurato almeno quanto la prematura scomparsa dei canti veri e proprio e dei compendi mitologici che ne riassumevano la trama ad uso di poeti, artisti o semplici lettori. In questo panorama si colloca la misteriosa figura di Proclo, autore di un’opera didascalica, una Crestomazia letteraria, che si premurò di approntare dei riassunti dei canti del Ciclo Epico, prevedendone la scomparsa a causa dell’interesse rivolto per lo più “al susseguirsi degli eventi narrati” che al pregio intrinseco alle opere. Per ironia della sorte, dellaCrestomazia non rimane altro che i riassunti del Ciclo, inseriti nella tradizione manoscritta dell’Iliade omerica come Prolegomena, insieme agli Inni e agli altri scritti pseudo-omerici e alle opere esegetiche. La stessa beffarda sorte ha fatto sì che il migliore testimone del testo di Proclo, codex unicus  dei riassunti dei poemi che seguivano cronologicamente la trama dell’Iliade, il celeberrimo Venetus 454, sia mutilo dell’argomentum dei Cypria
, l’unico conservato dagli esemplari successivi.Il lavoro è stato quindi suddiviso in tre parti: la parte iniziale si occupa della cosiddetta “questione ciclica” e analizza il rapporto dei canti del Ciclo, in particolare quelli che si occupavano della Guerra di Troia, con i suoi esponenti più conosciuti, i poemi omerici, e si sofferma su alcune ipotesi di datazione e attribuzione; Questo capitolo preparatorio apre la strada all’analisi delle epitomi della Crestomazia, che costituisce la seconda parte, in cui sono discusse e analizzate tutte le notizie che possediamo sull’opera perduta. Partendo dalla recensione dell’opera a cura di Fozio, si cerca di determinarne l’autore, la cui identità rimane in dubbio tra il più celebre filosofo neoplatonico del V sec. a.C. e un grammatico del II sec. a.C. circa. Lo studio prosegue con una discussione sulle fonti delle sue epitomi e quindi sulla effettiva sopravvivenza dei canti ciclici, almeno tra circoli ristretti di intellettuali, dopo l’ellenismo e fin nel tardo antico inoltrato. Infine si parlerà della tradizione manoscritta molto particolare delle epitomi procliane e della difficile storia dell’edizione critica del testo. L’ultima parte contiene un’analisi filologica condotta autopticamente su alcuni dei codici, al fine di determinare almeno in parte la facies della carta perduta del Venetus.

This paper analyzes the character of Tiresias in the Odyssey. It presents and discusses what the Odyssey recounts about the soothsayer. Then the fragmentary epic texts (shamanic poetry and Stesichorus included), together with the testimony of Attic tragedy and iconography, is analyzed in order to put the evidence of the Odyssey into greater perspective. Finally, this paper proposes some conclusions which pay special attention to the probable pre-Homeric life of Tiresias as the protagonist of shamanic poetry, and also to the way in which the Odyssey adapts the figure of the seer to its own narrative purposes. It is interesting to discover in the Homeric Tiresias the figure who mediates between different sagas, who can establish a link between the Trojan complex and the Theban one, possibly because of his shamanic potentialities. The possibility of linking this fact with the Pan-Hellenic cultural policy of the sponsors of the Odyssey should also be taken into account.

This survey article, with commentary on selected fragments, suggests that the Little Iliad was a heavily pro-Odysseus poem, which used a series of ambush or deception patterns as its basic narrative device. The attached article is the second proof version; please consult the actual companion for the final version and the bibliography.

È mai esistito un poeta di nome Omero, o le biografie delle Vite sono costruite intorno al nulla? Nel 1999 il filologo e grecista inglese M. L. West pubblicò un interessantissimo articolo sostenendo che il nome 'Omero' è stato derivato dal nome di una gilda di poeti del VI secolo a.C., gli Omeridi, e che le biografie omeriche pubblicate a partire dalla fine del VI secolo a.C. sono in realtà costruite intorno al nulla. Questo mio breve saggio si basa sull'articolo di West, e ne illustra la tesi.

This work aims to review our present scientific knowledge of the Cyclic Thebais, a Greek epic poem of the archaic Age, ascribed in the sources to Homer.
The first part of the investigation (Introduction) defines the objectives, considers some previous methodological questions, and traces the structure of the work. This structure has two consecutive steps: the reconstruction of the Thebais, and the confrontation of the poem with Iliad and Odyssey, the works that the tradition has considered Homer's canonical writings.
Chapter II (The evidence of Thebais: materials and testimonia ) displays an edition of the Thebais  fragments; seeks to determine the contents of the poem by opposing them to those of the other writings in the Theban epic cycle (Epigonoi, Expedition of Amphiaraos ); and discusses the authorship and probable date of the poem, two typical questions of traditional philology.
Chapter III (The evidence of Thebais: reconstruction of the poem ) examines the very few remnants of the poem which have been preserved through time until our days. These fragments are taken as starting point to recreate the form that the myth of Oedipus and his sons could have had in Thebais. This section also considers, as far as it is achievable, the possible structure of the epos.
Chapter IV (The artistic evidence in Thebais' theme ) integrates in the analysis of Thebais the archaic iconographical evidence, which reproduces in a plastic form the myth verbally developed by our epopee.
The main aim of this investigation, the comparison between Thebais and Iliad-Odyssey , is properly unfolded in Chapter V (Thebais' thematic in Iliad and Odyssey ). We consider here the references to the Theban saga included in the two canonical poems. We also consider those cases in which it is feasible to conjecture that the Iliad  reelaborates Theban narrative contents (It is harder to make this consideration with reference to the Odyssey , since the surviving evidence is very limited).
Chapter VI (Synthesis ) presents three fundamental conclusions:
1) The Cyclic Thebais  can rightly be considered an homeric work, since the expression "Homer" must have been originally not a personal name, but a generic appelation that became in time a quality seal for epic works.
2)The Iliad  (and with less certitude the Odyssey ) presupposes of its audience knowledge of the Thebais, poem from which the canonical work seems to borrow some narrative motives.
3)The Thebais must have been composed orally in the archaic Age, before the Iliad. Thebais'  text must have been transmited orally during an uncertain period of time, without experimenting macro-structural changes. There are enough arguments to suppose that Thebais was written down during the first years of VI B.C.. It must have occured in the Peloponnesos, and in the delphic orbit of influence. Some reasons also suggest that there is a direct relation between the Thebais' setting in writing and the foundation of Nemea Games, in 573 b.C.
This investigation is closed by two appendixes: the first, on literary sources about Thebais' thematic, and an analogous second one, containing iconographical sources of the archaic age.

This paper examines the meaning and connectedness of Kleos (eternal glory, fame), Nostos (homecoming, heroic return) and Ponos (toil, ordeal, pain) in various myths from the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Epic Cycle. Despite being essential to the analysing cultural significance of Homeric tradition, folklore feels disconnected from initial manifestations of heroic stories. We can say that such an unfortunate outcome is caused by the popularity of non-poetic narratives that have been created by numerous writers to bring the coherent plot into the foreground. This approach might be a comprehensible presentation of the story, though such versions lack the essence of imprinting heroic deeds into epic poems by earning Kleos and sustaining heroes' Kleos by repeated performance. Thus, this essay explores the significance of Kleos, nostos and Ponos within the Homeric tradition and suggests that we should abandon a canonical way of reading these virtues because such approach does not correspond with original myths that had been passed down from generation to generation. For this purpose, above-mentioned heroic virtues will be demonstrated on examples of Odysseus, Diomedes, Telemonian Ajax, Neoptolemus and with emphasis on Achilles – the epitome of Kleos. Moreover, popular adherence to " multi-volume " way of reading the Trojan War will be re-evaluated by juxtaposing Homer's works and the Epic Cycle to locate distinct traditions regarding Kleos, Nostos and Ponos.

[Scroll down for the English abstract]
RESUMO: Transcrição, edição e tradução de fragmentos de poemas épicos e cômicos da Grécia antiga, seguidos das Vidas de Homero; edição bilíngue. Prefácio do Prof. Alberto Bernabé Pajares. (ISBN 978-85-7876-040-3).

ABSTRACT: Transcription, edition and translation into Portuguese of the fragments of ancient Greek epic and comic poetry, followed by the Lives of Homer; bilingual edition. Preface by Prof Alberto Bernabé Pajares. (ISBN 978-85-7876-040-3). For a more detailed summary of the book's content, see the English abstract above.

Para comprar o livro/to buy the book:
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I analyse here a surprisingly long and detailed account of the Trojan War that survives in the Syriac Anonymous Chronicle up to the year 1234. I first explore its relationship with Greek sources (the Epic Cycle in particular) and then contextualise it among late antique allegorical readings of the Homeric poems. I argue that the Anonymous Chronicle modelled its narrative on canonical Biblical and historical accounts of the fall of famous cities to resonate with a teleological view of history.

This article shows that the mourning of Thetis at the start of Iliad Book 18 is not an atypical or under-motivated motif derived from (or alluding to) the Aithiopis, but an extraordinary example of the 'prospective lamentation' typical sequence, found several times in both Homeric poems. It thus offers a new solution to the crux of Iliad 18.95–6 and its prediction of Akhilleus' death 'straightaway after' Hektor's.

This paper on Classical Inquiries (May 5, 2016) is an epitome of a book-in-progress called The Stormy Seas of Cyprus: The Poetics of Eastern Wandering in Early Greek Epic. It discusses the ancient sources that underlie a pedagogical boardgame (also called the Stormy Seas of Cyprus) that I am developing with Glynnis Fawkes, and which we discuss this week on Eidolon.pub.

The term ὧραι features three times in Cypria fr. 4 Bernabé (4 Davies, 5 West) and seems to be involved in a rather elusive pun. This article analyses the meaning of each occurrence of the term in the fragment, and the stylistic implications of its use. Some recent conjectures are discussed and some expressions, such as ἔβαψαν at v. 2 and φoροῦσ(ι) at v. 3, are reinterpreted in light of their connotative meaning and of the evidence from Early Greek art. Assuming the employ of a paronomasia that is well attested in Hesiod, a new conjecture is proposed for v. 7.

In the controversial final scene of Women of Trachis, before he dies, Herakles asks for Hyllus, the eldest son by Deianira, to marry his concubine, Iole. Is this a (semi)incestuous marriage? And is it possible to find any other trace of a similar practice in ancient Greece? In this article, I try to answer these questions, in the light of the notion of incest “of the second type”, and by considering, in particular, the episode of Telegony where Telegonus marries Penelope and Telemachus marries Circe (compared with the wedding of Iolaus, the nephew of Heracles, and Megara).

In the Hecuba of Euripides, Polymestor expresses the wish to fly to the sky, next to Sirius and Orion. This sets the time of the year in the early summer. The paper argues that Euripides was aware of attempts in fifth-century historiographic tradition to establish the calendrical date of the fall of Troy. Hellanicus placed it on the 12th day of the month Thargelion; Damastes and others suggested the 23rd day in the same month (early summer). Other dated the fall to the month following Thargelion. It is generally agreed that these historiographers inferred the day of the month from Ilias parva fr. 9 Bernabé = 11a Davies = 14 West. The paper argues that they inferred the month of the year from the story about the Pleiades reported in Titanomachia 14 Bernabé = fragmentum incerti loci intra cyclum epicum 2 Davies = Sack of Ilion fr. 5 West. Ancient sources stress the link between Sirius and the Pleiades (see e.g. Eur. IA 6-8). The paper further discusess the text of Eur. Hec. 1103, suggesting the reading Ὠαρίων καὶ Σείριος.

An introduction to Ancient Greek Literature. It includes a detailed presentation for the following literature genres and their main representatives: a) Epic Poetry (Homer, Hesiod, Epic Cycle, Homeric Hymns), b) Lyric Poetry (Archilochus, Semonides, Hipponax, Callinus, Mimnermus, Tyrtaeus, Solon, ‘Theognidea’, Alcaeus, Sappho, Anacreon, Alcman, Stesichorus, Ibycus, Simonides, Bacchylides, Pindar), c) Historiography (Thucydides, Herodotus, Xenophon), d) Rhetoric (Origins and Early Stage, Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Other Attic Orators).

Seguendo un modello teorico, questo lavoro mostra come l’autore dell’Iliade sia consapevole della potenziale contraddittorietà tra la versione tradizionale della storia dell’ira e la versione che egli elabora, gestendo entrambe secondo le esigenze espressive e le finalità strutturali del poema.

| Following a theoretical model, this article assumes that the poet of the Iliad is aware of the potential inconsistency between the traditional account of the wrath and the version which he elaborates, and shows how the poem manages both according to its expressive and structural purposes.

This paper seeks to offer a fresh interpretation of the literary production of Hecataeus of Miletus, usually regarded as a starting point for historiography or mythography. Firstly, to assess his real contribution to the complex of Greek literature, it is paramount to carefully analyse the proem of the Genealogies (fr. 1 Fowler) and its value as a programmatic statement. It will be shown that the proem is shaped so as to resemble an authoritative heroic speech and that Hecataeus shares his concerns about the reliability of myth-telling with poets like Pindar. Secondly, it will be argued that his work was primarily conceived as a means to rewrite those stories already told in the epics (not only Homer and Hesiod but also the Epic Cycle and local sagas). Hecataeus’ contribution to archaic Greek literature fits into an open network of epic texts, as a cross-cultural comparison with the Hebrew Bible shows, and perhaps it can be best described as a form of “rhapsody in prose”, which entails a good degree of reworking of contents and the strong affirmation of an authorial persona free of the Muses’ patronage

While both the Homeric and the non-Homeric epics employ the same formulaic system to express the idea of proximity to the river Ocean, the contextual semantics of the expressions in question seem to be different. While the Homeric narrator treats the Ocean in a scenic way, that is, as a concrete entity spatially related to action (especially to the idea of movement), in the non-Homeric epics the same expressions are often used to convey a more abstract idea of extreme geographical distance.

The article examines the evidences about Dionysios Kyklographos (FGrHist 15), author of the Historical Cycle, and some cases of syntheses in prose, transmitted by papyri of Hellenistic and Imperial age, which deal with mythical subject matters of the
traditional canonized literary genres, especially Homeric and cyclic epic poetry. The papyri are examined from a palaeographical, bibliological and philological point of view, in order to suggest some hypotheses on their readership.