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...
moreThis 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.
