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I just read something (from a site which I will not link to) which stated that the epics of Homer were actually part of a larger, 8-book cycle. Is this true? I had not heard this before.
My Greek tutor explained that many stories, poems, epics and other literary works have been lost over the years. I recall at some point he referred to eight–but I do not recall which–epics I think.Of the Epics we have the Iliad and the Odyssey essentially because so many copies of them were made. His opinion was that we got the best. There are many pieces scattered about or referred to in other works, but the possibility of more being found is remote unless they come from Egypt. Moslems, Christians andother peoples, ignorant of Greek excellence, failed to preserve these. For example–of all the Greek tragedies written, we have less than half extant and many of these are fragmented–e.g. Iphigenia at Aulishas lots of holes that were filled in by later scholars based on educated guesses.Have any of you heard of a modern interpretation ofparts 1-4 and 16-19 of the Iliad called WAR MUSIC?The author is Christopher Louge and it was published in 1997. One either loves it or hates it. I belongto the first cohort.Here is an example of the work:I shall take is best she–Briseis from himMoreHer confiscation shows, once and for all,My absolute superiority,Not just to you retiring boy, but anyoneStupid enough to challenge me In word or deedAchilles' faceis like a chalkpit fringed with roaring wheat.His brain says :”kill him–let the Greeks sail home.”His thigh steels flex.And thenMuch like a match struck in full sunlightWe lose him in the prussic glareTeenage Athena, called the Daughter Prince–who burstHowling and huge out of God's head–shedsFrom her hard wide-apart eyes as she entersAnd stops time.Stirring stuff–lots of anachronisms that seem to make it really interesting.WillyD
I just read something (from a site which I will not link to) which stated that the epics of Homer were actually part of a larger, 8-book cycle. Is this true? I had not heard this before.
Not possible. They were oral traditions. They never were books until someone transcribed them.
Perhaps I miswrote that. Were there other stories that went along with the Homerian (oral) epics?
Could very well be. I suspect the story was added to or embellished from town to town or should I say polis to polis. You have to remember that by the time Homer sang (yes it was sung), the Iliad and the Odyssey, they were already several hundred years old (in theory anyway). Homer, himself, might have added to or taken away from the original versions. We will never be able to know this for sure, and it's a shame. Obviously Virgil wasn't satisfied with the story either because he gave us the Aeneid to tell what happened to prince Aeneas. And Euripides did the same thing with The Trojan Women. I'm not sure if they were total fictions or were based on some lost episodes of the original epics. Probably the former, but again, we might not really ever know.
I might also add that the Iliad and Odyssey were integral to the core of the Greek mythology. They were a part of the cosmogony actually as the time of the heroes and legends. Achilles and Odysseus were contemporaries with Heracles, therefore, they were mythological figures themselves in the same aspect as the Olympian gods. These tales could have been Dorian or even older, and probably were.
