Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle

Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle PDF Author: Benjamin Sammons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190679344
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
From a corpus of Greek epics known in antiquity as the "Epic Cycle," six poems dealt with the same Trojan War mythology as the Homeric poems. Though they are now lost, these poems were much read and much discussed in ancient times, not only for their content but for their mysterious relationship with the more famous works attributed to Homer. In Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle, Benjamin Sammons shows that these lost poems belonged, compositionally, to essentially the same tradition as the Homeric poems. He demonstrates that various compositional devices well-known from the Homeric epics were also fundamental to the narrative construction of these later works. Yet while the "cyclic" poets constructed their works using the same traditional devices as Homer, they used these to different ends and with different results. Sammons argues that the essential difference between cyclic and Homeric poetry lies not in the fundamental building blocks from which they are constructed, but in the scale of these components relative to the overall construction of poems. This sheds important light on the early history of epic as a genre, since it is likely that these devices originally developed to provide large-scale structure to shorter poems and have been put to quite different use in the composition of the monumental Homeric epics. Along the way Sammons sheds new light on the overall form of lost cyclic epics and on the meaning and context of the few surviving verse fragments.

Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle

Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle PDF Author: Benjamin Sammons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190679344
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
From a corpus of Greek epics known in antiquity as the "Epic Cycle," six poems dealt with the same Trojan War mythology as the Homeric poems. Though they are now lost, these poems were much read and much discussed in ancient times, not only for their content but for their mysterious relationship with the more famous works attributed to Homer. In Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle, Benjamin Sammons shows that these lost poems belonged, compositionally, to essentially the same tradition as the Homeric poems. He demonstrates that various compositional devices well-known from the Homeric epics were also fundamental to the narrative construction of these later works. Yet while the "cyclic" poets constructed their works using the same traditional devices as Homer, they used these to different ends and with different results. Sammons argues that the essential difference between cyclic and Homeric poetry lies not in the fundamental building blocks from which they are constructed, but in the scale of these components relative to the overall construction of poems. This sheds important light on the early history of epic as a genre, since it is likely that these devices originally developed to provide large-scale structure to shorter poems and have been put to quite different use in the composition of the monumental Homeric epics. Along the way Sammons sheds new light on the overall form of lost cyclic epics and on the meaning and context of the few surviving verse fragments.

Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle

Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle PDF Author: Benjamin Sammons
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190614854
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
From a corpus of Greek epics known in antiquity as the "Epic Cycle," six poems dealt with the same Trojan War mythology as the Homeric poems. Though they are now lost, these poems were much read and much discussed in ancient times, not only for their content but for their mysterious relationship with the more famous works attributed to Homer. In Device and Composition in the Greek Epic Cycle, Benjamin Sammons shows that these lost poems belonged, compositionally, to essentially the same tradition as the Homeric poems. He demonstrates that various compositional devices well-known from the Homeric epics were also fundamental to the narrative construction of these later works. Yet while the "cyclic" poets constructed their works using the same traditional devices as Homer, they used these to different ends and with different results. Sammons argues that the essential difference between cyclic and Homeric poetry lies not in the fundamental building blocks from which they are constructed, but in the scale of these components relative to the overall construction of poems. This sheds important light on the early history of epic as a genre, since it is likely that these devices originally developed to provide large-scale structure to shorter poems and have been put to quite different use in the composition of the monumental Homeric epics. Along the way Sammons sheds new light on the overall form of lost cyclic epics and on the meaning and context of the few surviving verse fragments.

The Greek Epic Cycle and its Ancient Reception

The Greek Epic Cycle and its Ancient Reception PDF Author: Marco Fantuzzi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316298213
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 855

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Book Description
The poems of the Epic Cycle are assumed to be the reworking of myths and narratives which had their roots in an oral tradition predating that of many of the myths and narratives which took their present form in the Iliad and the Odyssey. The remains of these texts allow us to investigate diachronic aspects of epic diction as well as the extent of variation within it on the part of individual authors - two of the most important questions in modern research on archaic epic. They also help to illuminate the early history of Greek mythology. Access to the poems, however, has been thwarted by their current fragmentary state. This volume provides the scholarly community and graduate students with a thorough critical foundation for reading and interpreting them.

Text and Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama

Text and Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama PDF Author: Jonathan J. Price
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0429656351
Category : Foreign Language Study
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
This collection presents 19 interconnected studies on the language, history, exegesis, and cultural setting of Greek epic and dramatic poetic texts ("Text") and their afterlives ("Intertext") in Antiquity. Spanning texts from Hittite archives to Homer to Greek tragedy and comedy to Vergil to Celsus, the studies here were all written by friends and colleagues of Margalit Finkelberg who are experts in their particular fields, and who have all been influenced by her work. The papers offer close readings of individual lines and discussion of widespread cultural phenomena. Readers will encounter Hittite precedents to the Homeric poems, characters in ancient epic analysed by modern cognitive theory, the use of Homer in Christian polemic, tragic themes of love and murder, a history of the Sphinx, and more. Text and Intertext in Greek Epic and Drama offers a selection of fascinating essays exploring Greek epic, drama, and their reception and adaption by other ancient authors, and will be of interest to anyone working on Greek literature.

Homer and the Epic Cycle

Homer and the Epic Cycle PDF Author: Andrew Porter
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004455558
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
How can the ancient relationship between Homer and the Epic Cycle be recovered? Using the most significant research in the field, Andrew Porter questions many ancient and modern assumptions and offers alternative perspectives better aligned with ancient epic performance realities and modern epic studies.

The Cambridge Guide to Homer

The Cambridge Guide to Homer PDF Author: Corinne Ondine Pache
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108663621
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 985

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Book Description
From its ancient incarnation as a song to recent translations in modern languages, Homeric epic remains an abiding source of inspiration for both scholars and artists that transcends temporal and linguistic boundaries. The Cambridge Guide to Homer examines the influence and meaning of Homeric poetry from its earliest form as ancient Greek song to its current status in world literature, presenting the information in a synthetic manner that allows the reader to gain an understanding of the different strands of Homeric studies. The volume is structured around three main themes: Homeric Song and Text; the Homeric World, and Homer in the World. Each section starts with a series of 'macropedia' essays arranged thematically that are accompanied by shorter complementary 'micropedia' articles. The Cambridge Guide to Homer thus traces the many routes taken by Homeric epic in the ancient world and its continuing relevance in different periods and cultures.

Redesigning Achilles

Redesigning Achilles PDF Author: Sophia Papaioannou
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
ISBN: 9783110200485
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Biographical note: Sophia Papaioannou, The National and Capodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic

The Resurrection of Homer in Imperial Greek Epic PDF Author: Emma Greensmith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108830331
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
Provides the first literary and cultural-historical analysis of the most important third-century Greek epic, Quintus' Posthomerica.

Early Greek Epic: Language, Interpretation, Performance

Early Greek Epic: Language, Interpretation, Performance PDF Author: Christos Tsagalis
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110981408
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 760

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Book Description
In the last fifty years major developments have taken place, both in the field of Homeric studies and in the rest of early Greek epic. These developments have not only created a more solid basis for studying the Homeric epics, but they have also broadened our horizons with respect to the place of Homeric poetry within a larger cultural milieu. The impressive advances in Hesiodic studies, the more systematic approach to the Epic Cycle, the more nuanced use and re-evaluation of dominant twentieth-century theories like Neoanalysis and Oral Theory, the study of other fragmentary Greek epic, the cognitive turn, narratology, the performance of epic poetry in the ancient and modern world, the fruitful utilization of Indo-European material, and the widely accepted recognition of the close relation between Homer and the mythology and literature of the ancient Near East have virtually shaped anew the way we read and understand Homer, Hesiod, and early Greek epic. The studies collected in this volume are informed by most of the aforementioned sub-fields and span four research areas: (i) Homer; (ii) Hesiod; (iii) the Epic Cycle; (d) the performance of epic.

More than Homer Knew – Studies on Homer and His Ancient Commentators

More than Homer Knew – Studies on Homer and His Ancient Commentators PDF Author: Antonios Rengakos
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110695820
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
This book contains a collection of twenty-one essays in honour of Professor Franco Montanari by eminent specialists on Homer, ancient Homeric scholarship, and the reception of the Homeric Epics in both ancient and modern times. It covers a wide range of important subjects, including neoanalysis and oral poetry, the Doloneia, the Homeric scholia, the theoretical premises of Aristarchean scholarship, and Homer in Sappho, Pindar, Comedy, Plato, and Hellenistic Poetry. As a whole, the contributions demonstrate the vitality of modern scholarship on Homeric poetry.