Triphiodorus, "The Sack of Troy"

Triphiodorus,
Author: Laura Miguélez-Cavero
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 547
Release: 2013-10-29
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110285304

The last full commentary on The Sack of Troy was published by Wernicke in 1819 and even the most recent analyses of the poem tend to see it as a quick halt in the evolution of epic poetry on its way towards Nonnus of Panopolis. This book offers a complete treatment of The Sack of Troy for its own sake. The introduction gathers all the information we have about Triphiodorus and his work, focusing on the reasons behind the election of topic, the outline of the poem, different forms of allusion, the use of the characterisation of individuals and groups to sustain plot development, the nature of the narrator and the value of speeches. This part is followed by a detailed analysis of Triphiodorus’ literary universe: his different forms of engagement not only with Homer and other distant poets, but also with Imperial literature and the contemporary cultural production. The line-by-line commentary of the poem attends to the position of each episode in the poem and in the tradition of the Trojan War and offers a linguistic, formal and stylistic analysis. Each section or episode is preceded by a comprehensive introduction, always bringing in all the related bibliography but providing a fresh and reliable view on Triphiodorus.

Brill's Companion to Prequels, Sequels, and Retellings of Classical Epic

Brill's Companion to Prequels, Sequels, and Retellings of Classical Epic
Author: Robert C Simms
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2018-07-17
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004360921

The epics of ancient Greece and Rome are unique in that many went unfinished, or if they were finished, remained open to further narration that was beyond the power, interest, or sometimes the life-span of the poet. Such incompleteness inaugurated a tradition of continuance and closure in their reception. Brill’s Companion to Prequels, Sequels, and Retellings of Classical Epic explores this long tradition of continuing epics through sequels, prequels, retellings and spin-offs. This collection of essays brings together several noted scholars working in a variety of fields to trace the persistence of this literary effort from their earliest instantiations in the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer to the contemporary novels of Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.

Poems in Context

Poems in Context
Author: Laura Miguélez-Cavero
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 455
Release: 2008-11-06
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 311021041X

Examining carefully the Egyptian epic hexameter production from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD, especially that of the southern region (Thebaid), this study provides an image of three centuries in the history of the Graeco-Egyptian literature, in which authors and poetry are related directly to the social-economic, cultural and literary contexts from which they come. The training they could get and the books and authors they came in touch with explain that we know so many names and works, written in a language and metrics that enjoyed the greatest esteem, being considered proofs of the highest culture. Laura Miguélez Cavero demonstrates that the traditional image of a “school of Nonnos” is not justified ‐ rather, Triphiodorus, Nonnus, Musaeus, Colluthus, Cyrus of Panopolis and Christodorus of Coptos are just the tip of a literary iceberg we know only to some extent through the texts that papyri offer us.

Structures of Epic Poetry

Structures of Epic Poetry
Author: Christiane Reitz
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 2760
Release: 2019-12-16
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110492598

This compendium (4 vols.) studies the continuity, flexibility, and variation of structural elements in epic narratives. It provides an overview of the structural patterns of epic poetry by means of a standardized, stringent terminology. Both diachronic developments and changes within individual epics are scrutinized in order to provide a comprehensive structural approach and a key to intra- and intertextual characteristics of ancient epic poetry.

Themes of the Trojan Cycle

Themes of the Trojan Cycle
Author: Miguel Carvalho Abrantes
Publisher: Miguel Carvalho Abrantes
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2016-01-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 8829541532

The story of the Trojan War presented in the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer, is incomplete. This book completes it. Originally presented as a thesis in the University of Coimbra (Portugal), this book reconstructs the plot of the Trojan War between the Iliad and the Odyssey. In order to do so, it uses the direct knowledge the authors of the Antiquity had of those subjects, but also iconographic sources, presenting them all and showing how they contribute to a faithful reconstruction of the Trojan Cycle, as it was known over 2000 years ago. Among the episodes reconstructed here are, for example, the battle against Penthesilea, the death of Achilles and the famous ruse of the Trojan Horse. This is a work interesting not only for those who already read the Iliad and the Odyssey, but also for everyone who has some interest in Greek and Roman Mythology.

Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity

Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity
Author: Berenice Verhelst
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2022-06-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 1009033077

Although Greek and Latin poetry from late antiquity each poses similar questions and problems, a real dialogue between scholars on both sides is even now conspicuously absent. A lack of evidence impedes discussion of whether there was direct interaction between the two language traditions. This volume, however, starts from the premise that direct interaction should never be a prerequisite for a meaningful comparative and contextualising analysis of both late antique poetic traditions. A team of leading and emerging scholars sheds new light on literary developments that can be or have been regarded as typical of the period and on the poetic and aesthetic ideals that affected individual works, which are both classicizing and 'un-classical' in similar and diverging ways. This innovative exploration of the possibilities created by a bilingual focus should stimulate further explorations in future research.

The Trojan Horse and Other Stories

The Trojan Horse and Other Stories
Author: Julia Kindt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 371
Release: 2024-01-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 1009411381

How does the non-human help define the human? This powerful exploration of ten mythical creatures reveals who we really are.

The Challenge of Epic

The Challenge of Epic
Author: Robert Shorrock
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2001
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9789004117952

This book offers a literary-critical rehabilitation of Nonnus' fitfth century AD epic. It argues for the centrality of allusive strategies, both intertextual and metapoetic, thus allowing a re-engagement with the challenge of reading late-antique poetry.

The Challenge of Epic

The Challenge of Epic
Author: Robert Shorrock
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2017-09-18
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 9004351108

Nonnus once vied with Homer for popularity; today his Dionysiaca languishes in obscurity. The Challenge of Epic offers a literary critical rehabilitation of Nonnus' fifth-century AD poem. It argues that modern neglect stems from a failure to appreciate the central position of allusion in late-antique poetry. Attention first focuses on intertextual allusion. It is argued that the poet draws on a plethora of allusions to the cycle of Greek mythology in order to imbue his specific narrative with a universal significance. Focus then shifts to metapoetic allusion: the way in which Nonnus alludes self-consciously to the process of writing, and develops parallels between himself and his subject, Dionysus. Through an appreciation of Nonnus' alllusive strategies, the modern reader can again engage with the mind-bending challenge of the Dionysiaca.

Later Greek Epic and the Latin Literary Tradition

Later Greek Epic and the Latin Literary Tradition
Author: Katerina Carvounis
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2022-11-07
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 3110791900

The volume offers an innovative and systematic exploration of the diverse ways in which Later Greek Epic interacts with the Latin literary tradition. Taking as a starting point the premise that it is probable for the Greek epic poets of the Late Antiquity to have been familiar with leading works of Latin poetry, either in the original or in translation, the contributions in this book pursue a new form of intertextuality, in which the leading epic poets of the Imperial era (Quintus of Smyrna, Triphiodorus, Nonnus, and the author of the Orphic Argonautica) engage with a range of models in inventive, complex, and often covert ways. Instead of asking, in other words, whether Greek authors used Latin models, we ask how they engaged with them and why they opted for certain choices and not for others. Through sophisticated discussions, it becomes clear that intertexts are usually systems that combine ideology, cultural traditions, and literary aesthetics in an inextricable fashion. The book will prove that Latin literature, far from being distinct from the Greek epic tradition of the imperial era, is an essential, indeed defining, component within a common literary and ideological heritage across the Roman empire.