Draft:Epic Cycle

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The Epic Cycle is a collection of Greek mythological epic poems that tell the story of the Trojan War between the Greeks (referred to in the story as Achaeans) and the city of Troy (or (W)Ilion). The two most famous and only poems that survive in full of this collection are the Iliad and the Odyssey. The other, less famous poems that comprise the epic cycle are Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Ilou Persis, Nostoi, and Telegony. The Iliad and Odyssey were allegedly written by Homer, the others by people no-one has heard of. Additionally, very little of the others survive, and we only know about what happened in them because of synopses by an unidentified Proclus in his Chrestomanthy.

Structure and composition[edit]

The Epic Cycle is broken up into several poems, each comprised of many "books". These aren't books in the conventional sense, rather they are more akin to scrolls. They are divided as follows:

  • Cypria: 11 books
  • Iliad: 24 books
  • Aethiopis: 5 books
  • Little Iliad: 4 books
  • Ilou Persis: 2 books
  • Nostoi: 5 books
  • Odyssey:24 books
  • Telegony: 2 books

For a total of 78 books.

All books of The Epic Cycle are written in dactylic hexameter and were originally orally transmitted.[1]:3-10

Synopsis[edit]

Note: For the sake of time much has been left out

Cypria[edit]

So Zeus and the goddess of Law-and-order Themis are just uh, planning the entire war. Eris, attending the wedding of the Greek hero Peleus, causes an argument about beauty between Athena, Hera and Aphrodite, telling them that whoever holds an apple was the most beautiful. Zeus orders the three goddesses to go to a prince of Troy, Paris[note 1], who would decide who was the most beautiful. Paris chooses Aphrodite. Paris falls in love and then kidnaps with a woman named HelenWikipedia, who in mythology was the most beautiful woman. Rumor of the kidnapping spreads to Sparta, where her husband, Menalaus was. He organizes an expedition against Troy with all the other Greek kings. Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, doesn't want to go to war, so he pretends to be insane. He's found out, so the people who want to go to war kidnap Odysseus's son, which forces Odysseus to go. The war party goes to sea, and land at the wrong place, which they burn. A storm happens and scatters their ships across various islands, but they regroup in Boeotia. Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, kills a deer and, because this great accomplishment, declares himself better than Artemis, who is y'know, the goddess of hunting. In revenge, she sends bad weather to keep them at Aulis. In order to stop the bad weather, they are told by a prophet that Agamemnon needs to sacrifice his daughter to Artemis. As they are about to sacrifice Agamemnon's daughter, Artemis abducts her and makes her immortal, placing a deer at the sacrificial altar instead. The expedition then leaves for Troy, where they demand Helen back, which the Trojans refuse to do.[2]

Iliad[edit]

Agamemnon takes a Trojan priest of Apollo's daughter hostage. Apollo sends a plague. The son of Peleus, Achilles, who had previously been stranded on the island of SkyrosWikipedia when Agamemnon made his blasphemous boast, forces Agamemnon to release the priest's daughter, but Agamemnon takes another woman, Briseis, as hostage instead. Odysseus returns the priest's daughter, and Apollo ends the plague. Achilles gets mad that Agamemnon took another woman as hostage and quits the war. Achilles prays to his mom, the nymph Thetis, asking that she ask Zeus to get Agamemnon to be beaten by the Trojans. Zeus sends a dream to Agamemnon, which Agamemnon trusts. After a brief scuffle involving the morale of the Greeks, they attack the Trojans and lose. They sign a truce, but it is broken by an archer shooting Menelaus. A bunch of Trojans are killed and/or defeated by the Greeks. After another day of fighting, a second truce is called. Agamemnon sends out a party that includes Odysseus, which Achilles and his lover companion Patroclus sort-of kind-of accept, but Achilles says that he only rejoin the conflict if the Greeks are beaten back and his ships are threatened with fire. The Trojans attack the Greek camp and manage to reach their ships. Poseidon helps the Greeks route the Trojans, but Zeus intervenes, and the Trojans reach the ships again. Patroclus decides to take Achilles armor and pretends to be him. Patroclus is killed by the Trojans, and Achilles loses his armor in the process (he gets a new one). Achilles cries over Patroclus's body, and becomes enraged. he kills many Trojans, including Hector, one of the princes of Troy.

Aethiopis and Little Iliad[edit]

An ally of Trojans, an amazon named Penthesileia, is killed and a Trojan that loved her, named Thersites, are killed by Achilles, after Thersites approached him. Thersites death was apparently controversial, as Achilles goes to Lesbos and sacrifices to Apollo, Artemis, and LetoWikipedia, the goddess of music. Memnon, the son the dawn goddess, Eos, joins the Trojans. Memnon kills a guy named Antilochos but is then killed by Achilles. Achilles then rushes the citadel of Troy but is killed by Paris and Apollo. A battle occurs over the corpse but it is rescued and put on the ships. There are funeral rites for Antilochos and Achilles. Thetis, Achilles mom, laments for her son, and takes his body to the island of Leuke. Also, Achilles armor was so good that a fight breaks out over it between Odysseus and Ajax.[3] During the judgement for the armor, Odysseus wins due to the intervention of Athena. Ajax gets so mad that he lost the judgement he kills himself. A bunch of people die, then Odysseus gets Achilles son, Neoptolemos, gives him Achilles armor, and the fuckin' ghost of Achilles appears to him. Troy is then besieged. The Greeks, then come up with a brilliant plan: they construct a wooden horse. Odysseus tricks the Trojans into letting him into the city, meets Helen, forms a plan with her, then leaves and goes to ships, killing several Trojans along the way. Some Greek soldiers climb into the wooden horse, while everyone else sails away. The Trojans accept the horse and have a big celebration.[4]

Iloupersis[edit]

For some reason, despite just accepting a big wooden horse, they are now wondering what to do with it. The Trojans end up deciding to dedicate the horse to Athena, and only now have feast. A signal is lit, and the Greeks inside the statue come out and begin slaughtering the Trojans. The Greeks that sailed away then return and destroy the city, kill the king and queen of Troy, and split up the booty and woman.[5]

Nostoi[edit]

Athena manages to cause an argument between the Agamemnon and Menelaus about the voyage home, while a bunch of other people arrive home safely. Menelaus goes to Egypt where some of his fleet is lost in a storm. People who followed Agamemnon were greeted by the sight of Achilles ghost prophesying the future. Some people go to Greece by land, and some die along the way. Some die by storms while sailing home. Agamemnon is then murdered by his wife and her lover. Menelaus arrives at home safely.[6]

Odyssey[edit]

Odysseus's son, Telemachus, and his wife Penelope are left in Ithaca with 108 men who really want to marry Penelope. The men also take some of Odysseus's wealth. Telemachus is told by Athena to go search for his father. He goes to Nestor, and then to Menelaus, then to ProteusWikipedia, who tells him that Odysseus is with the nymph Calypso. The suitors plan to kill Telemachus whenever he gets home. Odysseus was on an island with Calypso, who he had been with for seven years, and who had fallen in love with him. She is told by Hermes that she must release Odysseus, but Poseidon goes into a big hissy fit and wrecks the raft Odysseus used to escape. Odysseus survives and arrives at the island of Scheria. He tells them the story of how he got to Calypso's island:

Apparently, Odysseus and some his followers tried to go back home but were blown off-course. Along the way they:

  • Visited the Lotus-eaters, who have a tree with fruit so plentiful that Odysseus had to drag his followers back.
  • Went near an island near the Cyclops, where they found the cave of a cyclops named Polyphemus. Polyphemus sealed the cave and started eating Odysseus's men. Odysseus escaped after tricking the Cyclops into believing his name was "Nobody", so when Odysseus attacked the Cyclops "Nobody" had attacked him, and Polyphemus was unable to call for help. Polyphemus asked his father Poseidon to curse Odysseus, so Poseidon makes him wander for ten years.
  • Got the wind god Aeolus to give them a "Bag of wind" to ensure a safe return home. However, some of his sailors opened the bag thinking it contained gold causing all the wind contained within to blow them off course. Aeolus then refused to help.
  • Got destroyed and eaten by the cannibalistic Laestrygonians
  • Got half of Odysseus's men turned to pigs by the witch Circe. Circe fell in love with Odysseus and makes him stay for a year. Odysseus was immune to Circe's magic because Hermes gave him a special herb. Odysseus made it so that his men were no longer pigs.
  • Were guided by Circe's instructions to the edge of the world, where they found a harbor. Odysseus contacts the ghost of a dead prophet, who tells Odysseus that he must avoid eating the livestock of the sun god Helios because it is sacred. If they ate the livestock, the crew and ships will be destroyed.
  • Visited the land of the sirens. Almost everyone has their ears plugged. Odysseus, on the other hand, was tied to the bow so he could hear the sirens song.
  • Went through the twin monsters Scylla and Charybdis, the former killing some of Odysseus's men.
  • Visited the island that has the Helios's sacred cattle. Of course, the crew ate the cattle. A pissed Helios convinces Zeus to punish Odysseus's men. So Zeus sent a big storm, and managed to drown everyone but Odysseus, who clung to a fig tree.

Odysseus then landed on the island with Calypso on it.

After the inhabitants of Scheria are told this, they help Odysseus. A disguised Odysseus arrives in Ithaca, where one of his slaves treats him hospitably, but doesn't recognize him. Telemachus finally meets Odysseus, who he reveals his identity to. They decide to kill the suitors. A still-disguised Odysseus arrives at his house, where he is mocked by the suitors. He tells Penelope a bogus story about how he met Odysseus in Crete. Penelope states that whoever wins a a competition would get her hand in marriage, which Odysseus wins. Odysseus then reveals himself and kills the other suitors. A small battle ensues that is stopped by Zeus and Athena.

Telegony[edit]

Contradictions and other oddities[edit]

  • Between books
  • Cypria
  • Illiad
  • Aethiopis through Nostoi
  • Odyssey
  • Telegony

Historicity[edit]

The question of whether anything in the Epic Cycle, especially the Iliad and Odyssey, is historical is a notoriously difficult and complicated question.

Date of the war[edit]

Hittite records[edit]

In Hittite records, there exist mentions of a city called "Wilusa" with a king named "Alaxandru",[7]:107 which sounds awfully similar to the Greek name "Alexandros" (modern Alexander). Hittite records also contain the term "Ahhiyawa", which seems to refer to the MyceneansWikipedia [8]:57-60 and also sounds suspiciously like "Achaean".

Troy[edit]

Troy is suspected to be a site located in the HisarlikWikipedia region in Turkey. It was first discovered by Heinrich Schlieman in 1871

Authorship and sources[edit]

The Epic Cycle is written in something called dactylic hexameter. The authors who allegedly wrote the Epic Cycle are, in order:

  • Stasinus of Cyprus: Cypria[9]
  • Arctinus of Miletus: Aethiopis[10] and Ilou Persis[11]
  • Lesches of Mytilene: Little Iliad[12]
  • Agias of Trozen: Nostoi[13]
  • Eugammon of Cyrene: Telegony.
  • Homer: Iliad and Odyssey.

According to M. L. WestWikipedia, the writer of the Iliad and Odyssey was not named Homer, and they were not the same person.[14]:7-10

Date of composition[edit]

The Iliad was likely composed in the early seventh century over a course.[14]

Catalogue of ships[edit]

In book 2 of the Iliad, there is a lengthy list of ships, where they are from, and the names of the people leading the ships. These names appear to correlate with Greek names known in later times. This list bears a resemblance with Mycenean bureaucratic records.[15]:231 It was likely composed before the bulk of the Iliad was.

Was Achilles gay?[edit]

The sexuality of Achilles has long been a topic of debate, even back in Antiquity, as some ancient sources portray him and his companion Patroclus as having been lovers, while others do not.[16] This is further complicated by the fact that in Ancient Greece, there was no division of sexuality into the uniform categories of “straight”, “gay” or “bisexual” as there is today, [17] making the question of whether Achilles and Patroclus were anything more than friends even harder to pin down. Some historians argue that this theory is unfalsifiable, as there is no evidence for such a relationship between the two.[18]

Notes[edit]

  1. also known as Alexander

References[edit]

  1. Ahl, Frederick; Roisman, Hanna (1996) (in en-US). The Odyssey Re-formed. Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-0801483356. Retrieved 23 November 2016. 
  2. Proclus' Summary of the Cypria, attributed to Stasinus of Cyprus Archived at Stoa
  3. Proclus' Summary of the Aithiopis, attributed to Arctinus of Miletus Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  4. Proclus' Summary of the Little Iliad, attributed to Lesches of Mytilene Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  5. Proclus' Summary of the Ilioupersis, attributed to Arctinus of Miletus Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  6. Proclus' Summary of the Nostoi, attributed to Agias of Trozen Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  7. Bryce, Trevor R. (2006). The Trojans and their neighbours. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 9780199279081. 
  8. Bryce, Trevor R. (2005). The Kingdom of the Hittites (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199279081. 
  9. Proclus' Summary of the Cypria, attributed to Stasinus of Cyprus Archived at Stoa
  10. Proclus' Summary of the Aithiopis, attributed to Arctinus of Miletus Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  11. Proclus' Summary of the Ilioupersis, attributed to Arctinus of Miletus Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  12. Proclus' Summary of the Little Iliad, attributed to Lesches of Mytilene Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  13. Proclus' Summary of the Nostoi, attributed to Agias of Trozen Archived at STOA, translated by Nicholas Nagy
  14. 14.0 14.1 West, M. L. (2011-01-27). The Making of the Iliad. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-959007-0. 
  15. Windle, Joachim Latacz (2004). Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-926308-0. Retrieved 2 April 2016. 
  16. Were Achilles and Patroklos Lovers? Tales of times forgotten.
  17. LGBTQ+ in the ancient world. WorldHistory.org.
  18. Fox, Robin (2011). The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind L. Harvard University Press. p. 223. ISBN 9780674060944. "There is certainly no evidence in the text of the lliad that Achilles and Patroclus were lovers. [...] Those contemporary critics who see all literary instances of male affection for males as proof of "repressed homosexuality" have the same problem as other conspiracy theorists: their hypothesis is invulnerable to disproof; we have no way of knowing if they are wrong."

Sources[edit]

https://web.archive.org/web/20091009120320/http://www.stoa.org/hopper/text.jsp?doc=Stoa:text:2003.01.0004

https://www.loebclassics.com/view/LCL497/2003/volume.xml

http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D1%3Acard%3D1

https://www-degruyter-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/document/doi/10.1515/9783110963120/html


https://archive.org/details/trojanstheirneig0000bryc