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Epic Cycle
The Epic Cycle () was a collection of Ancient Greek epic poems, composed in dactylic hexameter and related to the story of the Trojan War, including the '' Cypria'', the ''Aethiopis'', the so-called '' Little Iliad'', the '' Iliupersis'', the '' Nostoi'', and the '' Telegony''. Scholars sometimes include the two Homeric epics, the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', among the poems of the Epic Cycle, but the term is more often used to specify the non-Homeric poems as distinct from the Homeric ones. Unlike the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', the cyclic epics survive only in fragments and summaries from Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period. The Epic Cycle was the distillation in literary form of an oral tradition that had developed during the Greek Dark Age, which was based in part on localised hero cults. The traditional material from which the literary epics were drawn treats Mycenaean Bronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron Age and later Greece. In modern scholarship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek Dark Ages, Dark Ages (), the Archaic Greece, Archaic or Homeric Greek, Homeric period (), and the Classical Greece, Classical period (). Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athens, fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and Ancient Greek philosophy, philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a standard subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Homeric Greek, Epic and Classical periods of the language, which are the best-attested periods and considered most typical of Ancient Greek. From the Hellenistic period (), Ancient Greek was followed by Koine Greek, which is regar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Hero Cult
Hero cults were one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion. In Homeric Greek, "hero" (, ) refers to the mortal offspring of a human and a god. By the historical period, the word came to mean specifically a ''dead'' man, venerated and propitiated at his tomb or at a designated shrine, because his fame during life or his unusual manner of death gave him power to support and protect the living. A hero was more than human but less than a Greek god, god, and various kinds of minor supernatural figures came to be assimilated to the class of heroes; the distinction between a hero and a god was less than certain, especially in the case of Heracles, the most prominent, but atypical hero. The grand ruins and Tumulus, tumuli (large burial mounds) remaining from the Bronze Age gave the pre-literate Greeks of the 10th century BC a sense of a once grand and now vanished age; they reflected this in the oral epic tradition, which would become famous by way of works such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his authorship, Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. The ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Homer's Ithaca, Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The epics depict man's struggle, the ''Odyssey'' especially so, as Odysseus perseveres through the punishment of the gods. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language that shows a mixture of features of the Ionic Greek, Ionic and Aeolic Greek, Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judgement Of Paris
The Judgement of Paris is a story from Greek mythology, which was one of the events that led up to the Trojan War, and in later versions to the foundation of Rome. Eris, the goddess of discord, was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. In revenge, she brought a golden apple, inscribed, "To the fairest one", which she threw into the wedding. Three guests, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite, after some disputation, agreed to have Paris of Troy choose the fairest one. Paris chose Aphrodite, she having bribed him with the most beautiful mortal woman in the world, Helen of Sparta, wife of Menelaus. Consequently, Paris carried Helen off to Troy, and the Greeks invaded Troy for Helen's return. Eris's Apple of Discord was thus the instrumental ''casus belli'' (or her not being invited to the wedding in the first place) of the Trojan War. Sources of the episode As with many mythological tales, details vary depending on the source. The brief allusion to the Judgement in the '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stasinus
Stasinus () of Cyprus was a semi-legendary early Greek poet. He is best known for his lost work ''Cypria'', which was one of the poems belonging to the Epic Cycle that narrated the War of Troy. The ''Cypria'', presupposing an acquaintance with the events of the Homeric poem, confined itself to what preceded the ''Iliad'', and has been described as an introduction. The poem contained an account of the Judgement of Paris, the rape of Helen, the abandonment of Philoctetes on the island of Lemnos, the landing of the Achaeans on the coast of Asia Minor, and the first engagement before Troy. Proclus, in his ''Chrestomathia'', gave an outline of the poem (preserved in Photius, cod. 239). Plato puts quotes from Stasinus' works in the mouth of Socrates, in his dialogue ''Euthyphro''.Plato, ''Euthyphro'' 12a–b (Stasinus ''Cypria'' Fr. 20). Surviving fragments *''Of Zeus, the author and creator of all these things,/ You will not tell: for where there is fear there is also reverence.'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alcmeonis
The ''Alcmeonis'' (, ''Alkmeonis'', or , ''Alkmaiōnis'') is a lost early Greek epic which is considered to have formed part of the Theban cycle. There are only seven references to the ''Alcmeonis'' in ancient literature, and all of them make it clear that the authorship of the epic was unknown. It told the story of Alcmaeon's killing of his mother Eriphyle for having arranged the death of his father Amphiaraus, whose murder was narrated in the ''Thebaid''. One of the surviving fragments is quoted by Athenaeus in the ''Deipnosophistae'': he chose it because it describes a funeral banquet. The lines have very little in common with descriptions of feasts in the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''. West, Martin L. ''Greek Epic Fragments''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 10–11, 58–63. Works that mention the ''Alcmeonis'' Pseudo-Apollodorus. ''The Library: in Two Volumes''. Trans. James George Frazer Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epigoni (epic)
''Epigoni'' (, ''Epigonoi'', "Progeny") was an Cyclic poets, early Greek epic, a sequel to the ''Thebaid (Greek poem), Thebaid'' and therefore grouped in the Theban cycle. Some ancient authors seem to have considered it a part of the ''Thebaid'' and not a separate poem. Contents According to one source, the epic extended to 7,000 lines of verse. It told the story of the last battle for Thebes, Greece, Thebes by the Epigoni, the children of the heroes who had previously fought for the city. Only the first line is now known: :Now, Muses, let us begin to sing of younger men ... Additional references, without verbal quotations, suggest that the myth of the death of Procris and the story of Teiresias's daughter Manto (mythology), Manto formed part of the ''Epigoni''. The epic was sometimes ascribed to Homer, but Herodotus doubted this attribution. According to the Scholia on Aristophanes there was an alternative attribution to "Antimachus." This presumably means Antimachus of T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thebaid (Greek Poem)
The ''Thebaid'' or ''Thebais'' (, ''Thēbais''), also called the Cyclic ''Thebaid'', is an Ancient Greek epic poem of uncertain authorship (see Cyclic poets) sometimes attributed by early writers to Homer, for example, by the poet Callinus and the historian Herodotus. It told the story of the war between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, and was regarded as forming part of a Theban Cycle __NOTOC__ The Theban Cycle () is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.West, M.L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments'', Loeb Classical Library, no. 497, Cambr .... Only fragments of the text survive. See also * ''Thebaid'' (Latin poem) Select editions and translations Critical editions * . * . * . * . Translations * . (The link is to the 1st edition of 1914.) English translation with facing Greek text; now obsolete except for its translations of the ancient quotations. * . Greek text with facing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oedipodea
The ''Oedipodea'' () is a lost poem of the Theban cycle, a part of the Epic Cycle (). The poem was about 6,600 verses long and the authorship was credited by ancient authorities to Cinaethon (), a barely-known poet who probably lived in Sparta. Eusebius says that he flourished in 764/3 BC. Only three short fragments and one testimonium survived. The ''Oedipodea'' told the story of the Sphinx and Oedipus and presented an alternative view of the Oedipus myth. According to Pausanias,Pausanias. ''Description of Greece'', 9.5.10-1; West, ''Fr.'' 1. Cinaethon states that the marriage between Oedipus and his own mother, Jocasta, was childless; his children had been born from another engagement with Euryganeia (), daughter of Hyperphas (). That is all we know about these two characters. A small glimpse of Cinaethon's style survives in Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theban Cycle
__NOTOC__ The Theban Cycle () is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.West, M.L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments'', Loeb Classical Library, no. 497, Cambridge, MA, . They were composed in dactylic hexameter verse and believed to be recorded between 750 and 500 BC. The epics took place before the Trojan War and centered around the Theban royal family. The epics of the Theban Cycle were the '' Oedipodea'', the ''Thebaid'', the '' Epigoni'', and the '' Alcmeonis''. Overview In the collection, the precise sequence of events and the handling of characters and plots are difficult to reconstruct. There are very few fragments for the ''Oedipodea''. For the ''Epigoni'' there are less than ten fragments and only three verbatim fragments totaling four lines. In addition, unlike the poetry of the Trojan cycle, there is no prose summary. * The ''Oedipodea'': There are a total of 6,600 verses, wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titanomachy (epic Poem)
The ''Titanomachy'' (, Latin: ''Titanomachia'') is a lost epic poem, which is a part of Greek mythology. It deals with the struggle that Zeus and his siblings, the Olympian Gods, had in overthrowing their father Cronus and his divine generation, the Titans. The poem was traditionally ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth (8th century BC), a semi-legendary bard of the Bacchiad ruling family in archaic Corinth, who was treasured as the traditional composer of the '' Prosodion'', the processional anthem of Messenian independence that was performed on Delos. Even in Antiquity many authors cited ''Titanomachia'' without an author's name. M. L. WestM.L. West, "'Eumelos': A Corinthian Epic Cycle?" ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'' 122 (2002), pp. 109–133. The present article follows West's analysis. in analyzing the evidence concludes that the name of Eumelos was attached to the poem as the only name available. From the very patchy evidence, it seems that "Eumelos"' account of the ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Photios I Of Constantinople
Photius I of Constantinople (, ''Phōtios''; 815 – 6 February 893), also spelled ''Photius''Fr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., and Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materials in Canon Law - A Textbook for Ministerial Students, Revised Edition" ollegeville, Minn., The Liturgical Press, 1990, p. 61 (), was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 858 to 867 and from 877 to 886. He is recognized in the Eastern Orthodox Church as Saint Photius the Great. Photius I is widely regarded as the most powerful and influential church leader of Constantinople subsequent to John Chrysostom's archbishopric around the turn of the fifth century. He is also viewed as the most important intellectual of his time – "the leading light of the ninth-century renaissance". He was a central figure in both the conversion of the Slavs to Christianity and the Photian schism, and is considered " e great systematic compiler ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
