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Nostoi
The ''Nostoi'' ( el, Νόστοι, ''Nostoi'', "Returns"), also known as ''Returns'' or ''Returns of the Greeks'', is a lost Epic poetry, epic 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. The story of the ''Nostoi'' comes chronologically after that of the ''Iliou persis'' (''Sack of Ilium''), and is followed by that of the ''Odyssey''. The author of the ''Nostoi'' is uncertain: ancient writers attributed the poem variously to Agias (8th century BC), Homer (8th century BC), and Eumelos (8th century BC) (see Cyclic poets). The poem comprised five books of verse in dactylic hexameter. The word ''nostos'' 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 finalized in the seventh or sixth century BC. Content The ''Nostoi'' relates the return home of the Greek hero ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agias
Agias or Hagias ( el, ) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek poet, whose name was formerly written ''Augias'' through a mistake of the first editor of the ''Excerpta of Proclus''. This misreading was corrected by Friedrich Thiersch, from the Codex Monacensis (X 033), Codex Monacensis, which in one passage has "Agias", and in another "Hagias". The name itself does not occur in early Greek writers, unless it be supposed that the "Egias" or "Hegias" () in Clement of Alexandria and Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias, are only different forms of the same name. Agias was a native of Troezen, and the time at which he wrote appears to have been about the year 740 BC. His poem was celebrated in antiquity, under the name of ''Nostoi'' (), i.e. the history of the return of the Achaeans (Homer), Achaean heroes from Troy, and consisted of five books. The poem began with the cause of the misfortunes which befell the Achaeans on their way home and after their arrival, that is, with the outrag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Cycle
The Epic Cycle ( grc, Ἐπικὸς Κύκλος, Epikòs Kýklos) was a collection of Ancient Greek epic poems, composed in dactylic hexameter and related to the story of the Trojan War, including the ''Cypria'', the '' Aethiopis'', the so-called ''Little Iliad'', the ''Iliupersis'', the ''Nostoi'', and the ''Telegony''. Scholars sometimes include the two Homeric epics, the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', among the poems of the Epic Cycle, but the term is more often used to specify the non-Homeric poems as distinct from the Homeric ones. Unlike the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', the cyclic epics survive only in fragments and summaries from Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period. The Epic Cycle was the distillation in literary form of an oral tradition that had developed during the Greek Dark Age, which was based in part on localised hero cults. The traditional material from which the literary epics were drawn treats Mycenaean Bronze Age culture from the perspective of Iron A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix (son Of Amyntor)
In Greek mythology, Phoenix (Ancient Greek: Φοῖνιξ ''Phoinix'', gen. Φοίνικος ''Phoinikos'') was the son of king Amyntor. Because of a dispute with his father, Phoenix fled to Phthia, where he became king of the Dolopians, and tutor of the young Achilles, whom he accompanied to the Trojan War. After Achilles had in anger withdrawn from the war, Phoenix tried to persuade Achilles to return. Phoenix appears as a character in the ''Iliad'', where Homer has him tell his story. He is also mentioned several times in the Epic Cycle. There were several lost 5th-century BC tragedies titled ''Phoenix'', which presumably told his story, and he appeared as a character in several others. Mentions of Phoenix occur in Pindar, the ''Palatine Anthology'', Lycophron, Ovid and Hyginus, and a brief account of his story is given by the mythographer Apollodorus. Phoenix also appears in many works of ancient art from as early as the 6th century BC. Mythology Phoenix was the son of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's ''Iliad''. The core of the ''Iliad'' (Books II – XXIII) describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the ''Odyssey'' describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. The ancient Greeks believed that Troy was located near the Dardanelles and that the Trojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th century BC, but by the mid-19th century AD, both the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iliou Persis
The ''Iliupersis'' (Greek: , ''Iliou persis'', "Sack of Ilium"), also known as ''The Sack of Troy'', is a lost epic 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. The story of the ''Iliou persis'' comes chronologically after that of the ''Little Iliad'', and is followed by the ''Nostoi'' ("Returns"). The ''Iliou persis'' was sometimes attributed by ancient writers to Arctinus of Miletus (8th century BCE) (see Cyclic poets). The poem comprised two books of verse in dactylic hexameter. 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 BCE, 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 entirel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. Homer's ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. Homer's epic poems shaped aspects of ancient Greek culture and education, fostering ideals of heroism, glory, and honor. To Plato, Homer was simply the one who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calchas
Calchas (; grc, Κάλχας, ''Kalkhas'') is an Argive mantis, or "seer," dated to the Age of Legend, which is an aspect of Greek mythology. Calchas appears in the opening scenes of the ''Iliad'', which is believed to have been based on a war conducted by the Achaeans against the powerful city of Troy in the Late Bronze Age. Calchas, a seer in the service of the army before Troy, is portrayed as a skilled augur, Greek ''ionópolos'' ('bird-savant'): "as an augur, Calchas had no rival in the camp." He received knowledge of the past, present, and future from the god, Apollo. He had other mantic skills as well: interpreting the entrails of the enemy during the tide of battle. His mantosune, as it is called in the ''Iliad'', is the hereditary occupation of his family, which accounts for the most credible etymology of his name: “the dark one” in the sense of “ponderer,” based on the resemblance of pondering to melancholy, or being “blue.” Calchas has a long literary hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nostos
Nostos (Ancient Greek: ) is a theme used in Ancient Greek literature, which includes an epic hero returning home by sea. In Ancient Greek society, it was deemed a high level of heroism or greatness for those who managed to return. This journey is usually very extensive and includes being shipwrecked in an unknown location and going through certain trials that test the hero. The return is not only about returning home physically, but also focuses on the hero retaining or elevating their identity and status upon arrival. The theme of Nostos is brought to life in Homer's ''The Odyssey'', where the main hero Odysseus tries to return home after battling in the Trojan War. Odysseus is challenged by many temptations, such as the Sirens and the Lotus-eaters. If Odysseus had given into these temptations it would have meant certain death and thus failing to return home. Nostos is used today in many forms of literature and movies. Nostos in the ''Odyssey'' In the ''Odyssey'', Homer has nostos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Poetry
An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. Etymology The English word ''epic'' comes from Latin ''epicus'', which itself comes from the Ancient Greek adjective (''epikos''), from (''epos''), "word, story, poem." In ancient Greek, 'epic' could refer to all poetry in dactylic hexameter (''epea''), which included not only Homer but also the wisdom poetry of Hesiod, the utterances of the Delphic oracle, and the strange theological verses attributed to Orpheus. Later tradition, however, has restricted the term 'epic' to ''heroic epic'', as described in this article. Overview Originating before the invention of writing, primary epics, such as those of Homer, were composed by bards who used complex rhetorical and metrical schemes by which they could memorize the epic as received i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zeus
Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''Días'' () is the sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his ancient Roman religion, Roman interpretatio graeca, equivalent Jupiter (mythology), Jupiter.''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. His mythology and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of Indo-European deities such as Jupiter, Perkūnas, Perun, Indra, Dyaus, and Zojz (deity), Zojz. Entry: "Dyaus" Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea (mythology), Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, though sometimes reckoned the eldest as the others required disgorging from Cronus's stomach. In most traditions, he is m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles ( ) or Achilleus ( grc-gre, Ἀχιλλεύς) was a hero of the Trojan War, the greatest of all the Greek warriors, and the central character of Homer's ''Iliad''. He was the son of the Nereid Thetis and Peleus, king of Phthia. Achilles' most notable feat during the Trojan War was the slaying of the Trojan prince Hector outside the gates of Troy. Although the death of Achilles is not presented in the ''Iliad'', other sources concur that he was killed near the end of the Trojan War by Paris, who shot him with an arrow. Later legends (beginning with Statius' unfinished epic ''Achilleid'', written in the 1st century AD) state that Achilles was invulnerable in all of his body except for one heel, because when his mother Thetis dipped him in the river Styx as an infant, she held him by one of his heels. Alluding to these legends, the term " Achilles' heel" has come to mean a point of weakness, especially in someone or something with an otherwise strong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neoptolemus
In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus (; ), also called Pyrrhus (; ), was the son of the warrior Achilles and the princess Deidamia, and the brother of Oneiros. He became the mythical progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Molossians of ancient Epirus. From his father, Neoptolemus was sometimes called Achillides, and from his grandfather or great-grandfather, Pelides and Aeacides. Description Neoptolemus was described by the chronicler Malalas in his account of the ''Chronography'' as "of good stature, good chest, thin, white, good nose, ruddy hair, wooly hair, light-eyed, big-eyed, blond eyebrows, blond beginnings of a beard, round-faced, precipitate, daring, agile, a fierce fighter". Meanwhile, in the account of Dares the Phrygian, he was illustrated as ". . .large, robust, and easily irritated. He lisped slightly, and was good-looking, with hooked nose, round eyes, and shaggy eyebrows. Family In some accounts, Neoptolemus was the son of Achilles by Iphigenia instead. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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