|
Trojan Horse
In Greek mythology, the Trojan Horse () was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer, Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, and it is only briefly mentioned in the ''Odyssey''. It is described at length in the ''Aeneid'', in which Virgil recounts how, after a fruitless ten-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse at the behest of Odysseus, and hid a select force of men inside, including Odysseus himself. The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night, the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under the cover of darkness. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city, ending the war. Metaphorically, a "Trojan horse" has come to mean any trick or stratagem that causes a target to invit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mykonos Vase
The Mykonos vase, a pithos, is one of the earliest dated objects ( Archaic period, c. 675 BC) to depict the Trojan Horse that appears in Homer's telling of the Fall of Troy during the Trojan War in the ''Odyssey''. It was found in 1961 (with human bones inside) on Mykonos, the Greek island for which it is named, by a local inhabitant. Ìt is on display at the Archaeological Museum of Mykonos. Description The neck of the pithos portrays the moment when the Trojan Horse is surrounded by (Greek) warriors, with additional warriors seen in the portholes. Beneath it there are three lines of metopes, each containing figures poised in battle. The lower part of the vase is blank. The warriors that surround the horse are represented in a formulaic manner. Their heads and legs appear behind rounded bossed shields and they carry spears. Those presented on the upper metope are portrayed in a similar fashion. However, the warriors on the main body of the pithos do not carry shields an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Iliad
The ''Little Iliad'' ( Greek: , ''Ilias mikra''; ) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the Trojan cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse. The story of the ''Little Iliad'' comes chronologically after that of the ''Aethiopis'', and is followed by that of the '' Iliou persis'' ("Sack of Troy"). The ''Little Iliad'' was variously attributed by ancient writers to Lesches of Pyrrha (E), Cinaethon of Sparta (E), Diodorus of Erythrae, Thestorides of Phocaea, or Homer himself (E) (see Cyclic poets). The poem comprised four books of verse in dactylic hexameter, the heroic meter. Date The ''Little Iliad'' was probably composed in the latter half of the E, although there is much uncertainty. Ancient sources date Lesches to the ; but it is typical for ancient writers to place archaic literary authors earlier (sometimes centuries earlier) than the period they actually lived. Content The ''Little Iliad'' is one ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Quintus Smyrnaeus
Quintus Smyrnaeus (also Quintus of Smyrna; , ''Kointos Smyrnaios'') was a Greek epic poet whose ''Posthomerica'', following "after Homer", continues the narration of the Trojan War. The dates of Quintus Smyrnaeus' life and poetry are disputed: by tradition, he is thought to have lived in the latter part of the 4th century AD, but earlier dates have also been proposed. His epic in fourteen books, known as the ''Posthomerica'', covers the period between the end of Homer's ''Iliad'' and the end of the Trojan War. Its primary importance is as the earliest surviving work to cover this period, the archaic works in the Epic Cycle, which he knew and drew upon, having been lost. His materials are borrowed from the cyclic poems from which Virgil (with whose works he was probably acquainted) also drew, in particular the ''Aethiopis'' (''Coming of Memnon'') and the '' Iliupersis'' (''Destruction of Troy'') of Arctinus of Miletus, and the '' Ilias Mikra'' (''Little Iliad'') of Lesches. His w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Tzetzes
John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancient Greek literature and scholarship. Of his numerous works, the most important one is the ''Book of Histories'', also known as ('Thousands'). The work is a long poem containing knowledge that is unavailable elsewhere and serves as commentary on Tzetzes's own letters. Two of his other important works are the on the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', which are long didactic poems containing interpretations of Homeric theology. Biography Tzetzes described himself as pure Greek on his father's side and part Iberian ( Georgian) on his mother's side. In his works, Tzetzes states that his grandmother was a relative of the Georgian Bagratid princess Maria of Alania who came to Constantinople with her and later became the second wife of the '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epitome
An epitome (; , from ἐπιτέμνειν ''epitemnein'' meaning "to cut short") is a summary or miniature form, or an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym for embodiment. Epitomacy represents "to the degree of." An abridgment differs from an epitome in that an abridgment is made of selected quotations of a larger work; no new writing is composed, as opposed to the epitome, which is an original summation of a work, at least in part. Many documents from the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds survive now only "in epitome," referring to the practice of some later authors (epitomators) who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost. Some writers attempted to convey the stance and spirit of the original, while others added further details or anecdotes regarding the general subject. As with all secondary historical sources, a different bias not present in the original may creep in. Documents surviving in epitome differ from those surviving only as f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)
The ''Bibliotheca'' (Ancient Greek: ), is a compendium of Greek mythology, Greek myths and heroic legends, genealogical tables and histories arranged in three books, generally dated to the first or second century AD. The work is commonly described as having been written by Apollodorus (or sometimes Pseudo-Apollodorus), a result of its false attribution to the 2nd-century BC scholar Apollodorus of Athens. Overview The ''Bibliotheca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus is a comprehensive collection of myths, genealogies and histories that presents a continuous history of Greek mythology from the earliest gods and the origin of the world to the death of Odysseus.. The narratives are organized by genealogy, chronology and geography in summaries of myth. The myths are sourced from a wide number of sources like early epic, early Hellenistic poets, and mythographical summaries of tales. Homer and Hesiod are the most frequently named along with other poets.Kenens, Ulrike. 2011. "The Sources of Ps.-A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helenus Of Troy
In Greek mythology, Helenus (; , ''Helenos'', ) was a gentle and clever seer. He was also a Troy, Trojan prince as the List of children of Priam, son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and the twin brother of the prophetess Cassandra. Mythology Early years In the earliest sources, Helenus and his sister Cassandra were given the power of prophecy by Apollo after their ears were licked by snakes. In other sources, Helenus was taught the power by Cassandra, but others generally believed his predictions. After gaining foresight, he was renamed from Scamandrius to Helenus by a Thracian soothsayer. Helenus predicted that if Paris (mythology), Alexander (''Paris'') brought home a Greek wife (i.e. Helen of Troy, Helen), the Achaeans would pursue, and overpower Troy and slay his parents and brothers. Trojan War Helenus is described by Homer as being the greatest of Augury, augurs. He advises Hector to challenge any Achaean to a duel, which Telemonian Ajax accepts. Helenus l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dictys Cretensis
Dictys Cretensis, i.e. Dictys of Crete (, ; ) of Knossos was a legendary companion of Idomeneus during the Trojan War, and the purported author of a diary of its events, that deployed some of the same materials worked up by Homer for the ''Iliad''. The story of his journal, an amusing fiction addressed to a knowledgeable Alexandrian audience, came to be taken literally during Late Antiquity. Literary history In the 4th century AD a certain Q. Septimius brought out ''Dictys Cretensis Ephemeris belli Trojani'' ("Dictys of Crete, Chronicle of the Trojan War") in six books, a work that professed to be a Latin translation of the Greek version. Its chief interest lies in the fact that, as knowledge of Greek waned and disappeared in Western Europe, this and the ''De excidio Trojae'' of Dares Phrygius were the sources from which the Homeric legends were transmitted to the Romance literature of the Middle Ages. An elaborate frame story presented in the prologue to the Latin text details h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Attic Greek
Attic Greek is the Greek language, Greek dialect of the regions of ancient Greece, ancient region of Attica, including the ''polis'' of classical Athens, Athens. Often called Classical Greek, it was the prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige dialect of the Hellenistic period, Greek world for centuries and remains the standard form of the language that is taught to students of Ancient Greek. As the basis of the Hellenistic Koine Greek, Koine, it is the most similar of the ancient Greek dialects, ancient dialects to later Greek. Attic is traditionally classified as a member or sister dialect of the Ionic Greek, Ionic branch. Origin and range Greek language, Greek is the primary member of the Hellenic languages, Hellenic branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. In ancient times, Greek had already come to exist in several dialects, one of which was Attic. The earliest Attested language, attestations of Greek, dating from the 16th to 11th centuries BC, are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ionic Greek
Ionic or Ionian Greek () was a subdialect of the Eastern or Attic–Ionic dialect group of Ancient Greek. The Ionic group traditionally comprises three dialectal varieties that were spoken in Euboea (West Ionic), the northern Cyclades (Central Ionic), and from BC onward in Asiatic Ionia (East Ionic), where Ionian colonists from Athens founded their cities. Ionic was the base of several literary language forms of the Archaic and Classical periods, both in poetry and prose. The works of Homer and Hesiod are among the most popular poetic works that were written in a literary form of the Ionic dialect, known as Epic or Homeric Greek. The oldest Greek prose, including that of Heraclitus, Herodotus, Democritus, and Hippocrates, was also written in Ionic. By the end of the 5th century BC, Ionic was supplanted by Attic, which had become the dominant dialect of the Greek world. History The Ionic dialect appears to have originally spread from the Greek mainland across the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homeric Greek
Homeric Greek is the form of the Greek language that was used in the ''Iliad'', ''Odyssey'', and ''Homeric Hymns''. It is a literary dialect of Ancient Greek consisting mainly of an archaic form of Ionic, with some Aeolic forms, a few from Arcadocypriot, and a written form influenced by Attic. It was later named Epic Greek because it was used as the language of epic poetry, typically in dactylic hexameter, by poets such as Hesiod and Theognis of Megara. Some compositions in Epic Greek date from as late as the 5th century D and it only fell out of use by the end of classical antiquity. Main features In the following description, only forms that differ from those of later Greek are discussed. Omitted forms can usually be predicted from patterns seen in Ionic Greek. Phonology Homeric Greek is like Ionic Greek, and unlike Classical Attic, in shifting almost all cases of long to . Exceptions include nouns like ("a goddess"), and the genitive plural of first-declension n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
