Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Greek Epic Cycle

Greek Epic Cycle

Davies, Malcolm

Paperback

Literary CriticismGeneral Poetry

ISBN10: 1853990396
ISBN13: 9781853990397
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: Feb 22 2001
Pages: 128
Weight: 0.33
Height: 0.35 Width: 5.47 Depth: 8.49
Language: English

In the wake of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, poets of the seventh and sixth centuries BC composed epics which covered other parts of the Trojan War story or different areas of Greek mythology. Quotations from them and other testimonies as to their content survive in later authors and the evidence thus assembled allows us to reconstruct something of the poems' contents. Collectively these poems came to be known by Hellenistic scholars in Alexandria as 'The Epic Cycle'.

With their often grotesque and fantastic tales, the cyclic poems were an important source for later writers of epic. Yet they also present a wealth of fascinating mythological details in their own right and provide absorbing variation on the traditional themes presented in Homer. Why are certain themes frequently used, while others are neglected in various poems? Such considerations enhance an overall appreciation of epic theme and outlook.

This short study provides an introduction to the Cycle for students and scholars of Greek epic, and of Classical civilisation and mythology more generally. All quotations are translated, making the material accessible to those with little or no Greek.

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