Description
Book SynopsisHe traces the development and transmission of the Cyclic poems in ancient Greek culture, comparing them to later Homeric poems and finding that they were far more influential than has previously been thought.
Trade ReviewA lively and venturesome study of the relationship between the Homeric epics and the largely lost Cyclic poems... A very interesting and accessible book. -- S. Douglas Olson Religious Studies Review This is a bracingly skeptical treatment of some important issues... A fresh, engaging exercise in heterodox scholarship. Greece and Rome [Jonathan Burgess] has firmly established the case that the Cyclic epics should be regarded as more authoritative representatives of Greek tradition about the Trojan War than the poems of Homer... Essential reading for everyone seriously interested in Homer and Greek epic tradition. -- Margalit Finkelberg Bryn Mawr Classical Review The Iliad and the Odyssey continue to be translated anew, and noticed when they are. Less widely noticed [is] other poetry about the Trojan War... The range and argument of the book make it valuable to any with an interest in what we call Homeric, and indeed, in ancient traditions generally. Virginia Quarterly Review Both the author's remarkable knowledge of previous scholarship on the topic and his eminently moderate and well-balanced approach make this volume a most valuable resource for approaching this complex field, and it immediately becomes indispensable for the study of Homeric and early non-Homeric epic. -- Mark W. Edwards Phoenix Anyone who has a serious interest in Homer and the Greek epic tradition should find this a valuable and thought-provoking book. -- Mike Chappell Journal of Classics Teaching 2005 A well argued book that packs a great deal of scholarship and insight into less than two-hundred pages. It deserves careful and repeated reading. -- D.M. Carter Polis 2010
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Note to Reader
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I: The Epic Cycle and the Tradition of the Trojan War
Chapter 1. Origins of the Cycle Poems
Chapter 2. The Manufacture of the Epic Cycle
Chapter 3. The "Cyclic" Tradition of the Trojan War
Chapter 4. "Cyclic" Trojan War Images
Chapter 5. Later Manifestations
Part II: Homer and the Tradition of the Trojan War
Chapter 6. "Cyclic" Myth in the Homeric Poems
Chapter 7. The Date of the Homeric Poems
Chapter 8. Iliadic Images
Chapter 9. Cyclops: Image and Folktale
Chapter 10. Homeric Passages
Part III: The Epic Cycle and Homer
Chapter 11. Cropping Around the Homeric Poems
Chapter 12. Extent of the Cycle Poems
Chapter 13. Homeric Influence on the Epic Cycle?
Chapter 14. Non-Homeric Aspects of the Epic Cycle
Conclusion
Appendix A: Photos and Proclus
Appendix B: Schematization of R. Cook's Tables
Appendix C: Trojan War Images to 600 B.C.E.
Appendix D: Blinding and Escape Images
Appendix E: Select Epic Passages Featuring Leaves
Notes
References
Index
