Epic Cycle

The Epic Cycle or Epic Kyklos (Greek Ἐπικὸς Κύκλος ), an ancient term that was a collection of ancient Greek Ependichtungen that told the story of the Trojan War. It included the Kypria, Aithiopis, Small Iliad, Iliu persis ( " The Fall of Troy" ), Nostoi ( " Heimkehrerepen " ) and telegony. Scholars sometimes include the two Homeric epics Iliad and Odyssey, under the seals of the epic cycle, but the term is more commonly used to specify the non- Homeric seals as different from the Homeric. The poets who are attributed to the epic cycle, hot Kyklische poet.

In addition to the Odyssey and the Iliad, the cyclic epics are preserved only in fragments, which was written by the main a detailed summary of a person named Proclus ( which is not the same person as the philosopher Proclus Diadochus, but possibly to Eutychios Proclus ). The epics were written in dactylic hexameters.

In modern research, the study of historical and literary relations between the Homeric epics and the rest of the cycle is called Neoanalyse.

Survey

A longer epic cycle, which the scholars and clerics Photius in his " library " describes in the ninth century, included also the Titans and the Theban cycle, which in turn contained the Oidipodeia, the Thebaid, the Epigoni and Alcmeonis. It is certain, however, that none of the cyclic epics ( except Homer ) in the time of Photius still existed, and it is likely that Proclus and Photius did not refer to a canonical collection. Modern researchers usually include the Theban cycle, not when they relate to the epic cycle.

Evidence for the Epic Cycle

Only the Iliad and the Odyssey are still intact, but fragments of other epic poems are cited by later authors, and some lines have been preserved in the scattered remains of ancient papyri.

Our knowledge of the cyclic epics mostly stirred ago by an incomplete summary of them, which serves as part of the preface of the famous Iliad manuscript from the 10th century, which is known under the name Venetus A. This preface is damaged, the Cypria missing, and must be supplemented by other sources ( the summary of the Cypria is obtained in several other manuscripts, each of which contains only the Cypria and none of the other epics ). This summary is in turn a part of a larger work.

This longer work was titled anthology and was written by a person named Proclus. This is known according to the testimony, which delivers the later scholars Photius in his Bibliotheca. Photius provides sufficient information about Proclus ' Chrestomathy, to demonstrate that the Venetus -A extract from the same work originates. About Proclus, little is known except that he was not the philosopher Proclus Diadochos is certain. Some have supposed that it could be the same person as the lesser-known grammarian Eutychios Proclus, who lived in the 2nd century, but it is quite possible that he is an otherwise unknown personality.