Greek Epic Cycle

This book investigates how versions of Trojan War narratives written in Greek in the first through fifth centuries c.e. created nostalgia for audiences. In ancient education, the Iliad and the Odyssey were used as models through which students learned Greek language and literature. This, combined with the ruling elite's financial encouragement of recreations of the Greek past, created a culture of nostalgia. This book explores the different responses to this climate, particularly in the case of the third-century c.e. poet Quintus of Smyrna's epic Posthomerica. Positioning itself as a sequel to the Iliad and a prequel to the Odyssey, the Posthomerica is unique in its middle-of-the-road response to nostalgia for Homer's epics. This book contrasts Quintus' poem with other responses to nostalgia for Homeric narratives in Greek literature of the Roman Empire. Some works contradict pivotal events of the Iliad and Odyssey, such as the first-century orator Dio Chrysostom's Trojan Speech, which claims that the Trojan hero Hector did not in fact die, contrary to the Iliad's account. Others recreated Homeric narratives but did not contradict them, improvising some elements and adding others. Quintus strikes a compromise in his epic, re-imagining Homeric narrative by introducing new characters and scenarios, while at the same time retaining the Iliad and Odyssey's aesthetics.

This article examines the different ways in which the Odyssey and the Telegony represent the relationships between immortals and mortals-the immortality theme. They draw upon that common theme but inflect it in contrasting ways: whereas the Odyssey's protagonist rejects immortality and embraces mortality, the protagonist of the Telegony does the opposite. In the end, though, both of these poems critique immortality. Analysis of these poems' different inflections of the immortality theme provides insights into how themes could be used competitively in archaic Greek poetry as well as how the same theme operated similarly and differently in various traditions.

Occurrences of μακραίων in Sophocles’ Extant Tragedies: Some Considerations
This paper – starting from the role and the relevance of time in the Sophoclean
tragedies from a lexical, semantic, conceptual and dramaturgical point
of view – aims to propose some linguistic and dramaturgical considerations
concerning the occurrences of μακραίων in Sophocles’ extant tragedies (also
taking into account the ‘conceptual history’ of αἰών).

Keywords: Sophocles, μακραίων, time-adjectives.

The paper focuses on Helen and its 'presence' in Sophoclean drama. After a brief introduction (1), section 2 analyses the few references to Helen that are found in Sophocles' extant plays (from ‘Ajax’ and ‘Electra’). Sections 3-5 all variously, and selectively, deal with Helen as a character in a few fragmentary plays. In particular, section 4 tentatively associates a one-word fragment from Sophocles' Ἑλένης ἀπαίτησις (179 R.2) with the heroine; section 5 focuses on Λάκαιναι – a play most likely featuring Helen among its ‘dramatis personae’ – and especially on fr. 368 R.2 ; the latter, it is argued, is incompatible with the hypothesis that Helen was its addressee.

The paper focuses on the characterisation of Odysseus in the fragmentary plays of Sophocles. After some introductory remarks on the playwright's debt to the epic tradition, section 2 deals with the rhetoric of Odysseus as showcased by frs *566 (‘Syndeipnoi’) and 965 R.2 (unknown play), and highlights how Sophocles interacted with the epic tradition underlying both fragments. Sections 3-4 explore the varied way in which Sophocles shaped the ethical characterisation of Odysseus. Section 3 focuses on the role of Odysseus as 'antagonist' of other Achaean heroes, while section 4 highlights the unfamiliar characterisation of Odysseus in the Euryalus.

Several short extracts from modern commentators followed by the relevant parts of the foregoing arranged according to an outline by Prof. Malcolm Heath of the University of Leeds, which originally appeared as part of his online course notes entitled CLAS3152: FURTHER GREEK LITERATURE II: Aristotle’s Poetics.

In former essays on the Epic Cycle, we studied the strange case of an important object in the Trojan War, the Palladion, considered a key to the victory, but which was not even mentioned in Homer.1 I'd like to examine here the case of a character, Palamedes: mentioned once in the Cypria (fr. 19= Pausanias 10.31.2), he is even lifted up to the rank of hero in Philostratus' Heroikos and Dictys' Ephemeris. Which leads to think about his total absence in the Iliad, explained by Philostratus as resulting from Odysseus' conspiracy.

In Coping with the Gods (2011), Henk Versnel examines contradictory statements in archaic literature. He objects to clever, modern attempts to explain away the inconsistencies; instead he proposes that we adopt a tolerant attitude towards contradictions in ancient Greek literature. In this chapter I argue that Versnel has ancient predecessors – ancient scholars who also believed that contradictions in archaic literature should not be explained away by clever strategies of interpretation or over-interpretation; and ancient scholars who thought that such contradictions were in fact characteristic of archaic literature. Such predecessors can only be found among the most learned men of the ancient world: the ancient Versnels were called Aristotle and Aristarchus. The chapter argues that these ancient scholars were (for a variety of reasons) tolerant of contradictions in archaic Greek literature, and the Homeric epics in particular; and that these scholars thus represent what one could call a ‘proto-Versnellian’ approach towards literature.

Questo contributo indaga la presenza nel poema epico perduto ‘Cypria’ dell’episodio del travestimento in abiti femminili di Achille, nascosto a Sciro da Teti per evitare la morte in battaglia. Nonostante la sua assenza in Proclo e nei frammenti conservatisi del poema, vi sono elementi che inducono a ipotizzare non solo la permanenza a Sciro dell’eroe in giovane età ‘en parthenou schemati’, come narra lo ‘schol’. Hom. T 326(= Cypr. fr. 19 B.), ma anche il suo successivo approdo nell’isola a causa di una tempesta e il matrimonio con Deidamia, circostanze narrate dall’ ‘argumentum’ dei ‘Cypria’ ma attribuite dal fr. 4 D. anche all’ ‘Ilias parua’. È inoltre qui avanzata l’ipotesi dell’attribuzione del fr. 4 D. ai ‘Cypria’ ed è respinta invece l’assegnazione del poema del fr. 40 ‘dubium’ Bernabé. Questo contributo indaga la presenza nel poema epico perduto ‘Cypria’ dell’episodio del travestimento in abiti femminili di Achille, nascosto a Sciro da Teti per evitare la morte in battaglia. Nonostante la sua assenza in Proclo e nei frammenti conservatisi del poema, vi sono elementi che inducono a ipotizzare non solo la permanenza a Sciro dell’eroe in giovane età ‘en parthenou schemati’, come narra lo ‘schol’. Hom. T 326(= Cypr. fr. 19 B.), ma anche il suo successivo approdo nell’isola a causa di una tempesta e il matrimonio con Deidamia, circostanze narrate dall’ ‘argumentum’ dei ‘Cypria’ ma attribuite dal fr. 4 D. anche all’ ‘Ilias parua’. È inoltre qui avanzata l’ipotesi dell’attribuzione del fr. 4 D. ai ‘Cypria’ ed è respinta invece l’assegnazione del poema del fr. 40 ‘dubium’ Bernabé.

scheint zweimal eine Hungersnot im achaiischen Heer ausgebrochen zu sein, die einmal durch die Herbeiholung der Oinotropen, das andere Mal durch den Fischfang des Palamedes angegangen wurde» 1 : con questa osservazione Kullmann intese risolvere una presunta incongruenza delle fonti relativamente a due episodi dei Cypria: l'aiuto offerto dalle Oinotropoi all'armata greca e la morte di Palamede. Lo studioso avanzò l'ipotesi dell'esistenza di due carestie, avviando così un dibattito destinato a fecondi sviluppi. Di fatto, l'incrocio delle evidenze, gli scolî licofronei che costituiscono il fr. 29 B e l'argumentum del poema, pongono una serie di questioni. È sostenibile che il plot ripetesse lo stesso evento all'interno del poema? In quali occasioni siffatte Hungersnöte avrebbero potuto affliggere l'armata? E in quale punto della trama dovrebbero situarsi le tappe del viaggio dei Greci verso la Troade: precedentemente alla prima fallimentare spedizione 2 o dopo la seconda partenza dall'Aulide? Quale sarebbe stato, infine, il ruolo di Palamede nel recupero delle Oinotropoi da parte dell'armata? Questo contributo intende indagare il problematico fr. 29 Bernabé dei Cypria (=fr. 19 D.= fr. 26 W.), incentrato sull'intervento salvifico delle Oinotropoi in favore degli Elleni nel corso della spedizione a Troia, episodio non narrato da Proclo 3. In base al frammento, i Greci, privi di approvvigionamenti, fecero scalo a Delo dove Anio avrebbe proposto all'armata di protrarre la loro permanenza sostentandosi con il grano, l'olio e il vino prodotti dalle sue figlie, le Enotrope.

The Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic (YAGE) publishes articles on all aspects of the epic tradition from Homer to Nonnus. Volume 6 comprises five articles: on visual aspects of the scar episode in Odyssey 19, on heroism and loot in the Iliad, on formulaic language in the Cyclic Thebaid, on the neo-Assyrian background of Odyssey 11, and on the aims, audiences, and pedagogical goals of a recently published commentary on book 1 of the Iliad.

The Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic (YAGE) publishes articles on all aspects of the epic tradition from Homer to Nonnus. Volume 6 comprises five articles: on visual aspects of the scar episode in Odyssey 19, on heroism and loot in the Iliad, on formulaic language in the Cyclic Thebaid, on the neo-Assyrian background of Odyssey 11, and on the aims, audiences, and pedagogical goals of a recently published commentary on book 1 of the Iliad.

Das zweibändige Werk umfasst die Geschichte der griechischen Literatur in ihren Gattungen, Autoren und Erscheinungsformen von Homer bis Synesios von Kyrene. Biographien und Werke wie deren Sitz im literarischen und gesellschaftlichen Leben werden in ihre Epochen eingebettet und errichten ein minutiöses Gesamtbild der griechischen Antike von der Mykenischen Zeit, den Hellenic Middle Ages und der Dori-schen Wanderung (‚Rückkehr der Herakliden‘) bis in die römisch dominierte Spätantike.

The paper considers various types of representation of the terror for the fall of the city, which is a pervasive and constant theme throughout Greek culture. Starting with an overview of P.Oxy. 42.3065, a private letter about the consequences a citizen suπered after the ruin of his city, in this case the city of Alexandria, the paper examines some specific cases of the representation destruction of the cities in two poetic genres, epic and elegiac poetry, whose structural and formal similarities, as well as their peculiarities, assure a variety of narrative frames for this subject-matter, with continous reverberations of traditional motifs and new approaches.

International Conference / Project "Kyklos 2023 - The Greek Epic Cycle and the Odyssey". Center for Hellenic Studies, Washington DC (via Zoom), June 23, 2023. Link to watch the conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3n70btaLCA&ab_channel=TheCenterforHellenicStudies

This paper discusses how wedding performances permeate Homeric discourse with a focus on the "Teichoskopia" section of the Iliad (3.161-244). In Iliad 3 Priam's inquiries to Helen about the leaders of the Achaean army at the tenth year of the war are puzzling and have been viewed by many critics as anachronistic in the light of the narrative time of the poem. While most scholarship has focused on Helen, this paper analyzes Priam's speech acts from the perspective of traditional poetic genres. The common themes of eikasia and makarismos typically found in wedding poetry are prevalent throughout Priam's speech acts. Such an interpretation seeks to put this scene in the context of oral poetics while illuminating further the associations evoked regarding Helen's position in the context of the tradition of Helen's suitors in epic poetry.

Already in antiquity, the end of the Nekyia presented many diffi culties to readers. 2 In Odyssey 11, Odysseus goes to the Underworld and sees other heroines and heroes, some of whom belong to earlier mythic generations. The journey to the Underworld involves an expansion of not only the epic poem's geography but also its chronology. 3 This paper seeks to analyze Odysseus's relationship with Heracles as a pre-Trojan War hero and explain the presence of Heracles and the Gorgon as the closing images of Odysseus's journey to the Underworld. Heracles is the last of the heroes whom Odysseus meets before his puzzling departure from Hades, and the typology of their encounter differs signifi cantly from Odysseus's other encounters.

The negative and unheroic portrayal of the Greeks' activities at Troy forms the central axis of a long literary tradition, which extends from Dictys of Crete and the medieval romances of Troy to Shakespeare ("Troilus and Cressida") and Wolfgang Petersen's recent "Troy" movie. In fact, this unheroic portrayal has a longer literary ancestry, which reaches more deeply into the past, to the Classical and Archaic age of Greek literature. From among the poets of Classical Athens, Euripides was the one who gave the most consistent and intense expression to the dark side of the Trojan campaign. In a series of tragedies produced during the Peloponnesian War, Euripides persistently undermined the heroic image of the Homeric tradition and emphasised the grievous and amoral aspects of the ten-year-long mythical conflict.

In the so-called "Trojan Trilogy" of 415 BCE, which includes the devastating "Trojan Women", the portrayal of the Achaean leaders was very different from the exalted heroic image given in the canonical Homeric poems. Euripides’ Greeks are hardly the glorified warriors and noblemen of the Iliad and the Odyssey. On the contrary, they are pictured as ruthless destroyers who leave no standing stone and no living soul in their wake. Helen is a shameless egoist, an incarnation of fallacy and perfidy, who will exploit any artifice to satisfy her lust and serve her personal interests. Odysseus, the archetype of Greek metis, is degraded into an envious and insidious crook. His targets are no longer horrible monsters, but the most innocent and blameless persons (the wise Palamedes and the young Astyanax). The other Greeks are manipulated by Odysseus’ intrigues and become handy tools for serving his murderous plans. These Greeks turn out to be the prime practitioners of barbarity.

For his negative portrayal of the Greek champions, Euripides drew on the poems of the Epic Cycle, especially the "Iliou Persis" and the "Cypria", which pursued with conscious method the anti-traditional and unheroic depiction of the Achaean heroes. In particular, the author of the "Cypria" reacted against the idealised spirit of the hallowed Homeric model and viewed the Trojan adventure from a detached perspective of cynical irony, showcasing its most sordid and dismal aspects. Euripides reached back to this alternative, anti-heroic epic tradition and took inspiration from it in order to stage his own counter-Iliad.

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey are the only early Greek heroic epics to have survived the transition to writing, even though extant evidence indicates that they emerged from a thriving oral culture. Among the missing are the songs of Boeotian Thebes. Homer's Thebes examines moments in the Iliad and Odyssey where Theban characters and thematic engagements come to the fore. Rather than sifting through these appearances to reconstruct lost poems, Elton Barker and Joel Christensen argue that the Homeric poems borrow heroes from Thebes to address key ideas—about politics, time, and genre—that set out the unique superiority of these texts in performance. By using evidence from Hesiod and fragmentary sources attributed to Theban tradition, Barker and Christensen explore Homer's appropriation of Theban motifs of strife and distribution to promote his tale of the sack of Troy and the returns home. As Homer's Thebes shows, this Theban material sheds light on the exceptionality of t...