HUM/COM 205 Assignment #1

HUM/COM 205: Assignment #1

The Iliad and the Epic cycle

Background Information:

The On-line Medieval and Classical Library contains an English translation of Proclus' summary of the Cypria, one of the cyclic epics. The cyclic epics concerning the Trojan War told the story of the events leading up to and following the Iliad ; these epics are now lost. Proclus, a literary historian who lived in the second or fifth century CE, composed summaries of these epics, and his summaries, along with the few surviving fragments of the works, constitute our knowledge of them. The stories recounted in Trojan cycle of epics would have been known, in one form or another, to the author of the Iliad and Odyssey, as well as to his audience. They formed the basis for other literature dealing with the heroic age which you will be reading in this course.

For more information about the cyclic epics, see the discussion of epic narrative in Greek literature in the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Vergil Project provides brief summaries of the epic cycle.

Assignment:

In order to understand more fully the context of the Iliad, read through a translation of Proclus' Cypria , the cyclic epic which narrates the events leading up to the Iliad. Having read this summary, and the fragments which follow it, reread a passage of the Iliad and consider how your knowledge of the Cypria changes your understanding of the Iliad scene.

NB Explanatory notes for Proclus' summary are contained at the end of the translation.
NB In the translation of Proclus' summary, Alexandrus = Alexander, another name for Paris.

Choose one:

A. The argument between Achilles and Agamemnon over Chryseis and Briseis at Il. 1.130 ff (Fagles pp. 82-83). Consider it in light of the origins of the expedition to retrieve Helen narrated in the Cypria.

B. The meeting between Helen and Aphrodite on the walls of Troy at Il . 3.381 ff (Fagles pp.141-142). Consider it in light of Aphrodite's role in Helen's initial abduction narrated in the Cypria.

C. Agamenon is perhaps understandably upset when he reviles Calchas in his speech on p. 81. But perhaps an allusion to an extra Homeric tale is to be found in 1.124-7 Fagles (= Il. 1.101 ff.) Check out Chalchas' earlier role in the expedition as described in Aeschylus' Ag amemnon 121 ff. (don't forget the follow-up to line 15 9) and decide.

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