Title Pages University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics M. L. West Print publication date: 2013 Print ISBN-13: 9780199662258 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2013 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662258.001.0001 Title Pages The Epic Cycle The Epic Cycle (p.iv) Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries. © M. L. West 2013 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Page 1 of 2 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Title Pages First published 2013 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available ISBN 978–0–19–966225–8 Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by MPG Printgroup, UK Access brought to you by: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29 Page 2 of 2 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Preface University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics M. L. West Print publication date: 2013 Print ISBN-13: 9780199662258 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2013 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662258.001.0001 (p.v) Preface The importance of the Epic Cycle in relation to the Iliad and Odyssey on the one hand, and on the other to lyric poetry, tragedy, and mythography, can hardly be overstated. Yet it has never been the object of a thorough commentary, and not often of a comprehensive study. Despite the fact that it is mostly lost, there is plenty to be said. My aim is not only to provide commentary on individual fragments and testimonia but to reconstruct the connections between them, so far as may be possible, and to build up a picture of the plan and course of each poem, its disposition of material, and its overall character. The Prolegomena (given this grand name to avoid confusion in cross-reference with the introductions to the individual epics) address general issues, including the nature and formation of the Epic Cycle, the status of the summaries of the Troy epics preserved under the name of Proclus, the validity of the ascriptions to particular poets, the reflexes of the Cycle in early art and literature, and its fortunes in and after the Hellenistic period. I hope to bring some clarification into the big picture as well as on matters of detail. It has become increasingly common in works of classical scholarship to provide translations of passages quoted in the ancient languages. I have done this where it could Page 1 of 2 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Preface be done conveniently, especially in the Prolegomena, but it is not practicable in a work such as a commentary to translate every piece of Greek or Latin that may appear. For the actual epic fragments and testimonia the reader who wants translations may turn to my Loeb edition of 2003. But it is a fact of life that in order to follow serious philological discussion, in any field, acquaintance with the relevant language or languages is a sine qua non. In the preface to his Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta of 1988 Malcolm Davies announced his imminent publication of a commentary: ‘fragmenta epica iam illustravi commentariis ditissimis quae mox publici iuris facere me posse spero’. I am grateful to Dr Davies for confirming that this work never in fact got very far and that while he is now working on the Theban epics, he would not be (p.vi) inconvenienced by my proceeding with my own commentary on the Trojan ones. I should also like to thank the staff of Oxford University Press for the cheerful efficiency and helpfulness that they have (as usual) shown throughout the book’s production process. It is a pleasure to work with them. M.L.W. Oxford 2012 Access brought to you by: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29 Page 2 of 2 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Abbreviations University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics M. L. West Print publication date: 2013 Print ISBN-13: 9780199662258 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2013 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662258.001.0001 (p.viii) Abbreviations Ant. Cl. L’Antiquité classique BSA Annual of the British School at Athens CEG P. A. Hansen, Carmina Epigraphica Graeca DK H. Diels and W. Kranz, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker FGrHist F. Jacoby and others (edd.), Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker GDI H. Collitz et al., Sammlung der griechischen Dialekt-Inschriften Gött.Nachr. Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen , Philologisch- historische Klasse GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies HE Page 1 of 3 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Abbreviations A. S. F. Gow and D. L. Page, Hellenistic Epigrams HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology ICS O. Masson, Les inscriptions chypriotes syllabiques IEG M. L. West, Iambi et Elegi Graeci , ed. altera JDAI Jahrbuch des deutschen archäologischen Instituts KG R. Kühner, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache , 2. Teil besorgt von B. Gerth Kl. Schr. Kleine Schriften LIMC Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae MDAI Mitteilungen des deutschen archäologischen Instituts Mnem. Mnemosyne NJb. Neue Jahrbücher für das Klassische Altertum PCG R. Kassel and C. Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci PEG A. Bernabé, Poetae Epici Graeci , Pars I Phil. Philologus PMG D. L. Page, Poetae Melici Graeci PMGF M. Davies, Poetarum Melicorum Graecorum Fragmenta RE Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft Rh. Mus. Rheinisches Museum Riv. Fil. Rivista di Filologia e d’Istruzione Classica (p.ix) RPh Revue de philologie Roscher Ausführliches Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie Schwyzer E. Schwyzer, Griechische Grammatik; Schwyzer–Debrunner = Bd. 2 (Syntax und syntaktische Stilistik) von A. Debrunner Page 2 of 3 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Abbreviations SEG Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum SH H. Lloyd-Jones and P. J. Parsons, Supplementum Hellenisticum SIFC Studi Italiani di Filologia Classica SLG D. L. Page, Supplementum Lyricis Graecis TrGF B. Snell, R. Kannicht, S. Radt, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta VM Valenzuela Montenegro, see Bibliography ZA Zeitschrift für die Altertumswissenschaft ZPE Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik Access brought to you by: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29 Page 3 of 3 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Prolegomena University Press Scholarship Online Oxford Scholarship Online The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics M. L. West Print publication date: 2013 Print ISBN-13: 9780199662258 Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: September 2013 DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662258.001.0001 Prolegomena M. L. West DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199662258.003.0001 Abstract and Keywords This chapter discusses the following: the definition of the Epic Cycle; Proclus' Chrestomatheias Eklogai and Apollodorus' Bibliotheke; the formation of the Cycle; the validity of the attested ascriptions to particular poets; the reflexes of the Cycle in archaic and classical art and literature; and the fortunes of the Cycle in the early Hellenistic and early Roman period. Keywords: Epic Cycle, Greek epic, epic poetry, epic poems, Proclus, Chrestomatheias Eklogai, Apollodorus, Bibliotheke 1. What was the Epic Cycle? The Epic Cycle was a corpus of archaic Greek epics considered as an ensemble that, if read in the due sequence, provided a more or less continuous account of mythical history from the beginning of the world to the end of the Heroic Age. Page 1 of 45 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Prolegomena The term ἐπικὸς κύκλος is not attested before the second century CE (nor the adjective ἐπικός before the first century BCE). But there are allusions in Aristotle to a Homeric or epic κύκλος that may well be identical with the Epic Cycle as understood later (see below, §3), and there are Hellenistic references to ‘cyclic’ poems or poets.1 An analogous use of the word κύκλος is found on a Cretan inscription of the mid second century BCE. It records a visit by one Menekles, a citharode from Teos, who drew from many poets and historians to make up a ‘cycle’ of narrative song on Cretan legend and tradition for Cretan audiences.2 Dionysius of Samos, a Hellenistic writer, produced a mythographical work in seven books entitled Κύκλος ἱστορικός, which earned him the sobriquet of Dionysius ὁ κυκλογράϕος (FGrHist 15); the title was presumably modelled on Κύκλος ἐπικός The only detailed information about the scope of the Epic Cycle is derived from a lost treatise by one Proclus, who probably wrote in the second century CE (see below, §2). Photius, excerpting Proclus’ work, tells us: διαλαµβάνει δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ λεγοµένου ἐπικοῦ κύκλου, ὃς ἄρχεται µὲν ἐκ τῆς Οὐρανοῦ καὶ Γῆς µυθολογουµένης µίξεως, ἐξ ἧς αὐτῶι καὶ τρεῖς παῖδας Ἑκατόγχειρας καὶ τρεῖς γεννῶσι Κύκλωπας. (p.2) διαπορεύεται δὲ τά τε ἄλλως περὶ θεῶν τοῖς ῞Ελλησι µυθολογούµενα καὶ εἴ πού τι καὶ πρὸς ἱστορίαν ἐξαληθίζεται. καὶ περατοῦται ὁ ἐπικὸς κύκλος ἐκ διαϕόρων ποιητῶν συµπληρούµενος µέχρι τῆς ἀποβάσεως Ὀδυσσέως τῆς εἰς Ἰθάκην,ἐν ἧι καὶ ὑπὸ τοῦ παιδὸς Τηλεγόνου ἀγνοοῦντος κτείνεται. (Proclus) also handles the so-called Epic Cycle, which begins from the fabled union of Ouranos and Ge, from which they say he fathered three hundred-handed sons and three Cyclopes; and it goes on through the other pagan myths about the gods, as well as anything in them of a historical nature. The Epic Cycle is made up from various poets, and it concludes with Odysseus’ landing on Ithaca, when he was killed by his son Telegonos who did not recognize him. Proclus provided fairly detailed plot summaries of all the epics in the Cycle, adding in each case the poet’s name and homeland and the length of the poem. He did not compile this material himself but copied it from an older source. We are so fortunate as to find preserved in certain manuscripts of the Iliad his summaries for the six epics which, together with the Iliad and Odyssey, covered the Trojan War and associated events: the Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. This Trojan sequence made up the concluding portion of the whole Cycle, which ended, as Photius has told us, with the Telegonos story. We cannot say how many other poems were included in the Cycle between the initial theogony and the Cypria.3 It can be inferred from Athenaeus 277c–e that the Titanomachy ascribed to Eumelos or Arktinos was reckoned as part of the Cycle,4 and I have mentioned the citations of ‘the Cyclic Thebaid’. A story that Photius says came from the Epic Cycle is conjecturally assigned to the Epigonoi (fr. 3⋆). So we may assume that Page 2 of 45 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014 Prolegomena the Cycle included the series of Theban epics, Oidipodeia, Thebaid, Epigonoi, and perhaps Alcmeonis. What else might Proclus’ Cycle have had in it? Poems on the Calydonian boar-hunt, the voyage of the Argo, the stories of Io and Perseus? Peisandros’ Heracles epic? A Theseis? The other document that may be relevant to the question is the so-called Tabula Borgia (10K).5 It is one of a number of miniature (p.3) plaques from the Rome area, dating from the time of Augustus or Tiberius, carrying mythological scenes in relief with various captions and texts and in some cases references to poetic sources such as Cyclic poems or Stesichorus. They are collectively known as the Tabulae Iliacae.6 The Borgia plaque, which is incomplete, was mainly devoted to Theban myths, but there is also a section of text relating the birth of Erichthonios, perhaps after the epic Danais. Lower down (verso 9–15) there is a passage containing some kind of list of epics with authors’ names and line- tallies and a probable reference to ‘the Cycle’. With some conjectural restoration it reads as follows: τῆς Εὐµήλου Τιτανο]µαχίας, οὐχ ἣν Τέλεσις ὁ Μηθυµναῖος ὑ- ]ἔπεσιν· καὶ ∆αναΐδας ˎ Ϝϕˎ ἐπῶν, καὶ τὸν ἐπῶν ὄντα ˎ xxˎ· καὶ τ]ὴν Οἰδιπόδειαν τὴν ὑπὸ Κιναίθωνος τοῦ Λακεδαιµονίου πεποιηµένην προαναγνόν]τες ἐπῶν οὖσαν ˎ Ϝχˎ ὑποθήσοµεν Θηβαΐδα ἐπῶν ˎ ζˎ,καὶ Ναυπάκτια ἃ ποιῆσαι ……‥]ν̣ τὸν̣ Μιλήσιον λέγουσιν, ἐπῶν ὄντα ˎ θϕˎ, καὶ τὴν        ]……ˎ Μ∆δυˎ· ταύτηι δὲ ὑποθήσοµεν         καὶ συµπληρώσοµεν οὕτω] τὸν κ̣ύκλον̣. … of Eumelos’(?) Titano]machy, not the one that Telesis of Methymna [placed here(?) … in n] verses; and Danaides, of 6,500 verses; and the [ …, of n verses; and after first read]ing the Oidipodeia [composed] by Kinaithon the [Lacedaemonian], of 6,600 verses, we shall subjoin the Thebaid, of 7,000 verses, and the Naupaktia(?),7 which] they say [X] the Milesian composed, being of 9,500 verses; [and the … composed by …, being of] 14,400 [verses];8 and to this [we shall subjoin … And so we shall complete] the Cycle. It does not seem to be the canonical Epic Cycle that is in question here, as the Oidipodeia and Thebaid are not followed by the Epigonoi, and the Trojan epics are not touched on at all. It is rather a more narrowly drawn, personal cycle offered as supporting bibliography for the particular areas of myth illustrated on the plaque. If all the (p.4) poems named were included in the fuller Cycle, we are able to add the Danaides (elsewhere cited as the Danais) to the contents list, and perhaps the Naupaktia. But beyond that we remain in the dark. Page 3 of 45 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Oxford University Press, 2014. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in OSO for personal use (for details see http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy). Subscriber: Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico %28UNAM%29; date: 23 March 2014