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| Trojan War |
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Trojans and allies |
TheEpic Cycle (Ancient Greek:Ἐπικὸς Κύκλος,romanized: Epikòs Kýklos) was a collection ofAncient Greekepic poems, composed indactylic hexameter and related to the story of theTrojan War, including theCypria, theAethiopis, the so-calledLittle Iliad, theIliupersis, theNostoi, and theTelegony. Scholars sometimes include the twoHomeric epics, theIliad and theOdyssey, 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 theIliad and theOdyssey, the cyclic epics survive only in fragments and summaries fromLate Antiquity and theByzantine period.
The Epic Cycle was the distillation in literary form of anoral tradition that had developed during theGreek Dark Age, which was based in part on localisedhero cults. The traditional material from which the literary epics were drawn treatsMycenaeanBronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron Age and later Greece.
In modern scholarship, the study of the historical and literary relationship between the Homeric epics and the rest of the cycle is calledNeoanalysis.
A longer Epic Cycle, as described by the 9th-century CE scholar and clergymanPhotius in codex 239 of hisBibliotheca, also included theTitanomachy (8th century BCE) and theTheban Cycle (between 750 and 500 BCE), which in turn comprised theOedipodea, theThebaid, theEpigoni, and theAlcmeonis; however, it is certain that none of the cyclic epics (other than Homer's) survived to Photius' day, and it is likely that Photius was not referring to a canonical collection. Modern scholars do not normally include the Theban Cycle when referring to the Epic Cycle.
| Title | Length (books) | Most common attribution | Content |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cypria | 11 | Stasinus | The events leading up to the Trojan War and the first nine years of the conflict, especially theJudgement of Paris |
| Iliad | 24 | Homer | Achilles' rage against first kingAgamemnon and then the Trojan princeHector, ending with Achilles killing Hector in revenge for the death ofPatroclus andPriam coming to Achilles to ransom Hector's body |
| Aethiopis | 5 | Arctinus | The arrival of the Trojan allies,Penthesileia theAmazon andMemnon; their deaths at Achilles' hands in revenge for the death ofAntilochus; Achilles' own death |
| Little Iliad | 4 | Lesches | Events after Achilles' death, including the building of theTrojan Horse and the Awarding of the Arms to Odysseus |
| Iliou persis ("Sack of Troy") | 2 | Arctinus | The destruction ofTroy by the Greeks |
| Nostoi ("returns") | 5 | Agias orEumelus | The return home of the Greek force and the events contingent upon their arrival, concluding with the returns ofAgamemnon andMenelaus |
| Odyssey | 24 | Homer | The end ofOdysseus' voyage home and his vengeance on his wifePenelope's suitors, who have devoured his property in his absence |
| Telegony | 2 | Eugammon | Odysseus' voyage toThesprotia and return toIthaca, and demise at the hands of an illegitimate sonTelegonus |
Herodotus knew of theCypria and theEpigoni when he wrote hisHistory in the mid-5th century BCE. He rejected the Homeric authorship for the former and questioned it for the latter.[1]
The Epic Cycle was not "mentioned as a whole" (including the Theban Cycle) until the 2nd century CE, but knowledge of a "Trojan cycle" is apparent from at least the 4th century BCE asAristoxenus mentions an alternative opening to theIliad.[2]
Aristotle, in hisPoetics, criticizes theCypria andLittle Iliad for the piecemeal character of their plots:
But other poets compose a plot around one person, one time, and one plot with multiple parts; like the composer of theCypria and theLittle Iliad. As a result, only one tragedy is made out of theIliad and theOdyssey, but from theCypria many, and from theLittle Iliad more than eight…[3]
The Library attributed toApollodorus and the 2nd century CE LatinGenealogia attributed toHyginus also drew on them. Furthermore, there are also theTabula iliaca inscriptions that cover the same myths.[4]
Most knowledge of the Cyclic epics comes from a broken summary of them which serves as part of the preface to the famous 10th centuryIliad manuscript known asVenetus A. This preface is damaged, missing theCypria, and has to be supplemented by other sources (theCypria summary is preserved in several other manuscripts, each containing only theCypria and none of the other epics). The summary is, in turn, an excerpt from a longer work,Chrestomathy, written by a "Proclus." This is known from evidence provided by the later scholar Photius, mentioned above. Photius provides sufficient information about Proclus'Chrestomathy to demonstrate that the Venetus A excerpt is derived from the same work.[5] Little is known about Proclus. He is certainly not the philosopherProclus Diadochus. Some have thought that it might be the same person as the lesser-known grammarianEutychius Proclus, who lived in the 2nd century CE,[6] but it is quite possible that he is simply an otherwise unknown figure.
In antiquity, the two Homeric epics were considered the greatest works in the Cycle. ForHellenistic scholars, theCyclic poets, the authors to whom the other poems were commonly ascribed, were νεώτεροι (neōteroi "later poets") and κυκλικός (kyklikos "cyclic") was synonymous with "formulaic."[citation needed] Then, and in much modern scholarship, there has been an equation between poetry that is later and poetry that is inferior.[citation needed]
The tales told in the Cycle are recounted by other ancient sources,[7] notablyVirgil'sAeneid (book 2), which recounts the sack of Troy from a Trojan perspective, andOvid'sMetamorphoses (books 13–14), which describes the Greeks' landing at Troy (from theCypria) and the judgment of Achilles' arms (Little Iliad).Quintus of Smyrna'sPosthomerica is another source, which narrates the events after Hector's death up until the end of the war. The death ofAgamemnon and the vengeance taken by his sonOrestes (theNostoi) are the subjects of later Greektragedy, especiallyAeschylus'sOresteian trilogy.
The non-Homeric epics are usually regarded as later than theIliad andOdyssey.[citation needed] There is no reliable evidence for this, however, and someNeoanalyst scholars operate on the premise that the Homeric epics were later than the Cyclic epics and drew on them extensively.[citation needed] Other Neoanalysts make the milder claim that the Homeric epics draw on legendary material which later crystallized into the Epic Cycle.[citation needed]
The nature of the relationship between the Cyclic epics and Homer is also bound up in this question. As told by Proclus, the plots of the six non-Homeric epics look very much as though they are designed to integrate with Homer, with no overlaps with one another.[8]
For example, a surviving quotation shows that theLittle Iliad narrated howNeoptolemus tookAndromache prisoner after thefall of Troy;[9] however, in Proclus, theLittle Iliad stops before the sack of Troy begins. Some scholars have argued that theCypria as originally planned dealt with more of the Trojan War than Proclus' summary suggests;[10] conversely, others argue that it was designed to lead up to theIliad, and that Proclus' account reflects theCypria as originally designed.[11]
It is probable that at least some editing or "stitching" was done to edit epics together. For the last line of theIliad,
ὣς οἵ γ᾽ ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος ἱπποδάμοιο.
In this way they performed the funeral of Hector, tamer of horses.
an alternative reading is preserved which is designed to lead directly into theAethiopis:
ὣς οἵ γ' ἀμφίεπον τάφον Ἕκτορος· ἦλθε δ' Ἀμαζών,
Ἄρηος θυγάτηρ μεγαλήτορος ἀνδροφόνοιο.
In this way they performed the funeral of Hector; then theAmazonPenthesileia came,
daughter of great-hearted man-slaughteringAres. ...
There are contradictions between epics in the Cycle. For example, the Greek warrior who killed Hector's sonAstyanax in the fall of Troy isNeoptolemus according to theLittle Iliad; according to theIliou persis, it isOdysseus.[12]
How and when the eight epics of the Cycle came to be combined into a single collection and referred to as a "cycle" is a matter of ongoing debate. In the late 19th century,David Binning Monro argued that the scholastic use of the word κυκλικός did not refer to the Cycle as such, but meant "conventional", and that the Cycle was compiled in theHellenistic period (perhaps as late as the 1st century BCE).[13] More recent scholars have preferred to push the date slightly earlier, but accept the general thrust of the argument.[citation needed]