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The Nostoi (; also known as Nosti in Latin, Returns in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
) 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 Nostoi comes chronologically after that of the Iliou persis
Iliou persis

The Iliou persis 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....
 (Sack of Ilion), and is followed by that of the Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
. The author of the Nostoi is uncertain: ancient writers attributed the poem variously to Agias of Troizen, Homer, and Eumelos (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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The Nostoi (; also known as Nosti in Latin, Returns in English
English language

English is a West Germanic language that originated in Anglo-Saxon England and has lingua franca status in many parts of the world as a result of the military, economic, scientific, political and cultural influence of the British Empire in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries and that of the United States from the mid 20th century onwa...
) 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 Nostoi comes chronologically after that of the Iliou persis
Iliou persis

The Iliou persis 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....
 (Sack of Ilion), and is followed by that of the Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
. The author of the Nostoi is uncertain: ancient writers attributed the poem variously to Agias of Troizen, Homer, and Eumelos (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....
). The poem comprised five books of verse in dactylic hexameter
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....
. The word nostos
Nostos

Nostos is the Greek word for homecoming. It is a theme dealt with in many Homeric writings such as the Odyssey, in which the main character, Odysseus, strives to get home after the Trojan War....
 means "return home".

Date

The date of composition of the Nostoi, and the date when it was set in writing, are both very uncertain. The text is most likely to have been finalised in the seventh or sixth century BCE.

Content

The Nostoi relates the return home of the Greek heroes after the end of the Trojan War. In current critical editions only five and a half lines of the poem's original text survive. For its storyline we are almost entirely dependent on a summary of the Cyclic epics contained in the Chrestomatheia (see also 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....
) attributed to an unknown "Proklos" (possibly to be identified with the 2nd-century-CE grammarian Eutychios Proklos
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 also give indications of the poem's storyline.

The poem opens as the Greeks are getting ready to set sail back to Greece. The goddess 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....
 is wrathful because of the Greeks' impious behaviour in the sack of Troy (see Iliou persis
Iliou persis

The Iliou persis 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....
). Agamemnon
Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon / is the son of King Atreus of Mycenae and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus and the husband of Clytemnestra; different mythological versions make him the king either of Mycenae or of Argos....
 waits behind, to appease her; Diomedes
Diomedes

Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War. He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his grandfather, Adrastus....
 and Nestor
Nestor

Nestor may refer to:*Nestor , the son of Neleus, the King of Pylos and Chloris in Greek mythology*Nestor *Nestor , a genus of parrots in ornithology...
 set sail straightaway, and reach home safely; 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....
 sets sail, but encounters a storm, loses most of his ships, lands in Egypt and is delayed there for several years. Other Greeks, including the prophet Calchas
Calchas

In Greek mythology, Calchas , son of Thestor, was a Argive seer, with a gift for interpreting the flight of birds that he received of Apollo: "as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp"....
, go by land to Kolophon, where Calchas dies and is buried.

As Agamemnon is getting ready to sail, Achilles
Achilles

In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greeks hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad, which takes for its theme ; the Wrath of Achilles....
' ghost appears to him and foretells his fate. Agamemnon makes a sacrifice and sets sail anyway; 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....
, however, is visited by his grandmother, the sea-nymph Thetis
Thetis

Silver-footed Thetis , disposer or "placer" , is encountered in Greek mythology mostly as a sea nymph, one of the fifty Nereids, daughters of the ancient one of the seas with shape-shifting abilities who survives in the historical vestiges of most later Greek myths as Proteus ....
, who tells him to wait and make further sacrifices to the gods. 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....
 sends a storm on Agamemnon and those accompanying him at Athena's request, and the lesser Ajax
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....
 dies on the Kapherian rocks on the southern end of Euboia. Neoptolemus follows Thetis' advice and goes home by land; in Thrake he meets 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....
 at Maroneia
Maroneia

Maroneia is a municipality in the Rhodope Prefecture, Greece. Population 7,644 . The seat of the municipality is in Xylagani.In legend, it was said to have been founded by Maron, a son of Dionysus, or even a companion of Osiris....
, who has come there by sea. Neoptolemus arrives home, though Phoenix
Phoenix (Iliad)

In Homer Iliad, Phoenix , son of Amyntor, is one of the Myrmidons led by Achilles who along with Odysseus and Ajax urges Achilles to re-enter battle....
 dies en route, and there he is recognised by his grandfather Peleus
Peleus

In Greek mythology, Pele?s was a Greek hero cult who was already known to Homer. Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the island of Aegina, and Ende?s, the oread of Mount Pelion in Thessaly; he became the father of Achilles....
.

Agamemnon arrives home and is there murdered by his wife Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra

Clytemnestra was the wife of Agamemnon, king of the Ancient Greece kingdom of Mycenae or Argos. In the Oresteia by Aeschylus, she was a femme fatale who murdered her husband, Agamemnon—said by Euripides to be her second husband—and his concubine Cassandra....
 and her lover, Agamemnon's cousin Aegisthus
Aegisthus

In Greek mythology, Aegisthus was the son of Thyestes and of his daughter, Pelopia.Thyestes felt he had been deprived of the Mycenae throne unfairly by his brother, Atreus....
. Later Agamemnon's and Clytemnestra's son Orestes
Orestes

Orestes was the son of Agamemnon in Greek mythology; Orestes may also refer to:Drama*Orestes , an Classical Athens tragedy from 408 BCE by Euripides...
 avenges the murder by killing both of them. Finally Menelaus arrives home from Egypt. (This last section, known as the Oresteia, is narrated in Odyssey books 3 and 4 by Nestor and Menelaos; and it was later also the basis for Aeschylus
Aeschylus

Aeschylus was an Ancient Greece playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedy whose Play survive extant, the others being Sophocles and Euripides....
' trilogy of tragic plays, the Oresteia.)

At the end of the Nostoi the only living Greek hero who still has not returned home is Odysseus. His return is narrated in the Odyssey
Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Hellenic civilization epic poetrys attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work traditionally ascribed to Homer....
.

Editions

  • Online editions (English translation):
    • translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (public domain)
    • translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914; Project Gutenberg edition
    • translated by Gregory Nagy
  • 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)


See also

  • Nostos
    Nostos

    Nostos is the Greek word for homecoming. It is a theme dealt with in many Homeric writings such as the Odyssey, in which the main character, Odysseus, strives to get home after the Trojan War....