Iliou persis

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Iliou persis

The Iliou persis (Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ; also known as Iliupersis, esp. in Latin; ) is a lost epic

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
of ancient Greek literature

Greek literature

Greek literature refers to those writings autochthonic to the areas of Greeks influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects, throughout the whole period in which the Greek language people have existed....
. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the "Trojan" cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War

Trojan War

In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta....
in epic verse. The story of the Iliou persis comes chronologically after that of the Little Iliad
Little Iliad

The Little Iliad is a lost Epic poetry of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the "Trojan" cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse....
, and is followed by the Nostoi
Nostoi

The Nostoi is a lost Epic poetry of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the "Trojan" cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse....
("Returns"). The Iliou persis was sometimes attributed by ancient writers to Arctinus of Miletus (see Cyclic poets

Cyclic Poets

Cyclic Poets is a shorthand term for the early Greek epic poets, approximate contemporaries of Homer. We know no more about these poets than we know about Homer, but modern scholars regard them as having composed orally, as did Homer....
).

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Encyclopedia

The Iliou persis (Greek

Greek language

Epic poetry

An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation....
of ancient Greek literature

Greek literature

Trojan War

Cyclic Poets

Dactylic hexameter

Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. It is traditionally associated with the quantitative meter of classical epic poetry in both Greek language and Latin, and was consequently considered to be the Grand Style of classical poetry....
.

Date

The Iliou persis was probably composed in the seventh century BCE, but there is much uncertainty. Ancient sources date Arctinus to the eighth century, but evidence concerning another of his poems, the Aethiopis, suggests that he lived considerably later than that.

Content

Only ten lines of the original text of the Iliou persis survive. For its storyline we are almost entirely dependent on a summary of the Cyclic epics contained in the Chrestomathy
Chrestomathy

Chrestomathy is a collection of choice literary passages, used especially as an aid in learning a foreign language.In philology or in the study of literature, it is a type of reader or anthology which presents a sequence of example texts, selected to demonstrate the development of language or literary style....
written by an unknown "Proclus" (possibly to be identified with the 2nd century CE grammarian Eutychius Proclus

Eutychios Proklos

Eutychius Proclus was a grammarian who flourished in the 2nd century CE. He was born at Sicca in Africa. He was the instructor of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius....
). A few other references give indications of the poem's storyline. A further impression of the poem's content may be gained from book 2 of Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro was a classical Roman poet, best known for three major works?the Bucolics , the Georgics and the Aeneid?although several Appendix Vergiliana are also attributed to him....
's Aeneid

Aeneid

The Aeneid is a Latin Epic poetry written by Virgil in the late 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Rome....
(written many centuries after the Iliou persis), which tells the story from a Trojan point of view.

Note that different sources record some details differently: for example the manner of Aeneas

Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
' departure from Troy, or the identity of Astyanax

Astyanax

In Greek mythology, Astyanax was the son of Hector and Andromache. His birth name was Scamandrius , but the people of Troy nicknamed him Astyanax , because he was the son of the city's great defender and the heir apparent's firstborn son....
' killer. The version told here specifically follows what is known of the early epic poem, rather than any other source.

The poem opens with the Trojans discussing what to do with the wooden horse which the Greeks have left behind. Cassandra

Cassandra

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy....
and Laocoon proclaim that there is an armed force of Greeks inside, but others say it is a holy relic of Athena. The latter opinion prevails, and the Trojans celebrate their apparent victory. The god Poseidon

Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
, meanwhile, sends an ill omen of two snakes which kill Laocoon and his sons; seeing this, Aeneas

Aeneas

This article is about the Roman hero. For other uses, see Aeneas .In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas was a Troy hero, the son of prince Anchises and the goddess Venus_....
and his men leave Troy in anticipation of what is to come.

When night comes the Greek warriors inside the horse emerge, and open the city gates to let in the Greek army, which has sailed back from Tenedos

Tenedos

Tenedos, officially referred to as Bozcaada in Turkey is a small island in the Aegean Sea, part of the Bozcaada Districts of Turkey of ?anakkale Province Provinces of Turkey in Turkey....
. The Trojans are massacred, and the Greeks set fire to the city.

Neoptolemus

Neoptolemus

In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia . Achilles' mother foretold many years before Achilles birth that there would be a great war....
kills king Priam

Priam

In Greek mythology, Priam was the king of Troy during the Trojan War and youngest son of Laomedon. Modern scholars derive his name from the Luwian compound Priimuua, which means "exceptionally courageous"....
, even though he has taken refuge at the altar of Zeus

Zeus

Zeus in Greek mythology is the king of the gods, the ruler of Mount Olympus and the god of the sky father and List of thunder gods. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull , and oak....
; Menelaus

Menelaus

Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria....
kills Deiphobus

Deiphobus

In Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. He was a prince of Troy, and the greatest of Priam's sons after Hector and Paris ....
and takes back his wife Helen

Helen

In Greek mythology, Helen , better known as Helen of Sparta later Helen of Troy, was the daughter of Zeus and Leda , wife of King Menelaus of Sparta and sister of Castor and Pollux, Castor and Pollux and Clytemnestra....
; Ajax the Lesser

Ajax the Lesser

Ajax was a Greeks Greek mythology hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris. He was called the "lesser" or "Locrian" Ajax, to distinguish him from Ajax , son of Telamon....
drags Cassandra

Cassandra

In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy....
from the altar of Athena

Athena

In Greek mythology, Athena is the shrewd companion of Hero and the goddess of Hero endeavour. She is the virgin patron of Athens, which built the Parthenon to worship her....
. The gods consider whether they should stone Ajax in retribution, but he in turn also takes refuge at the altar of Athena. Later, when the Greeks are sailing home, Athena kills him at sea. Odysseus

Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses , in Greek mythology , was a legendary Greeks king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's Epic poetry, the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
kills Hector

Hector

In Greek mythology, Hector , or Hektor, is a Troy prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War. He is the son of Priam and Hecuba, descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy....
's baby son Astyanax

Astyanax

Neoptolemus

Andromache

In Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector and daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled....
captive. The Greeks make a human sacrifice of Priam's daughter Polyxena

Polyxena

Polyxena - ???????? was known to be a beautiful Troy princess from Greek mythology. She is the youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy and his queen, Hecuba....
at Achilles's tomb, to placate his angry spirit.

Editions

Online editions (English translation):

translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (public domain)
translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914; Project Gutenberg edition

Print editions (Greek):

A. Bernabé 1987, Poetarum epicorum Graecorum testimonia et fragmenta pt. 1 (Leipzig: Teubner)
M. Davies 1988, Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht)

Print editions (Greek with English translation):

M.L. West 2003, Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press)