Ancient Epic Katherine Callen King A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication Ancient Epic BLACKWELL INTRODUCTIONS TO THE CLASSICAL WORLD This series will provide concise introductions to classical culture in the broadest sense. Written by the most distinguished scholars in the fi eld, these books survey key authors, periods and topics for students and scholars alike. Published Greek Tragedy Nancy Sorkin Rabinowitz Roman Satire Daniel Hooley Ancient History Charles W. Hedrick, Jr. Homer, second edition Barry B. Powell Classical Literature Richard Rutherford Ancient Rhetoric and Oratory Thomas Habinek Ancient Epic Katherine Callen King In Preparation Catullus Julia Haig Gaisser Ancient Comedy Eric Csapo Sappho Ellen Greene Ancient Epic Katherine Callen King A John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication This edition fi rst published 2009 © 2009 Katherine Callen King Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. 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If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data King, Katherine Callen. Ancient epic / Katherine Callen King. p. cm. – (Blackwell introductions to the classical world) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4051-5947-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Epic poetry–History and criticism. 2. Poetry, Ancient–History and criticism. 3. Heroes in literature. I. Title. PN1307.K56 2009 809.1′32–dc22 2008036233 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10.5 on 13pt Galliard by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed in Singapore by Fabulous Printers Pte Ltd 01 2009 To Esther and Wallis Pereira for their unfailing support, to the many graduate and undergraduate students from whom I have learned so much, and to research assistant extraordinaire, Catharine Platt McGraw Contents Chronologies viii Map x Introduction 1 1 The Epic of Gilgamesh 14 2 The Context of Homeric Epic 33 3 The Iliad 52 4 The Odyssey 81 5 The Argonautika of Apollonios of Rhodes 106 6 The Context of Roman Epic 125 7 The Aeneid of Virgil 143 8 The Metamorphoses of Ovid 172 Appendix: Chart of Olympian Gods and their Akkadian Counterparts 189 Glossary of Greek and Latin terms 192 Index 193 Chronologies [most dates are approximate] GILGAMESH 2700 BCE Gilgamesh King in Uruk 2100–2000 Summerian Gilgamesh epics composed in writing 1800 Earliest tablets of Summerian epics (Gilgamesh & Agga; Gilgamesh & Huwawa; Gilgamesh & Bull of Heaven; Death of Gilgamesh or Gilgamesh in the Netherworld) 1700s Akkadian epic composed = Old Babylonian Version 1500–1100 Middle Babylonian Versions (Hurrian and Hittite trans- lations) 1200 Sin-leqe-unninni creates Standard Version 700 Oldest extant tablets of Standard Version GREEK AND ROMAN EPIC 1400–1200 Bronze Age Greece 1184 Traditional date of Trojan War 750 Writing reintroduced to Greece Traditional date for founding of Rome by Romulus 725–625 Iliad and Odyssey composed 600–500 Epic Cycle poems composed 400 Antimakhos of Kolophon composes the lost Thebaid and Lyde 335–23 Aristotle writes and lectures at the Lyceum in Athens 331 Alexander the Great founds Alexandria on the coast of Egypt