GREEK EPICS


The greatest of all the world's epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are
attributed to Homer, or Melesigenes, who is said to have lived some
time between 1050 and 850 B.C. Ever since the second century before
Christ, however, the question whether Homer is the originator of the
poems, or whether, like the Rhapsodists, he merely recited extant
verses, has been hotly disputed.

The events upon which the Iliad is based took place some time before
1100 B.C., and we are told the poems of Homer were collected and
committed to writing by Pisistratus during the age of Epic Poetry, or
second age of Greek literature, which ends 600 B.C.

It stands to reason that the Iliad must have been inspired by or at
least based upon previous poems, since such perfection is not achieved
at a single bound. Besides, we are aware of the existence of many
shorter Greek epics, which have either been entirely lost or of which
we now possess only fragments.

A number of these ancient epics form what is termed the Trojan Cycle,
because all relate in some way to the War of Troy. Among them is the
Cypria, in eleven books, by Stasimus of Cyprus (or by Arctinus of
Miletus), wherein is related Jupiter's frustrated wooing of Thetis,
her marriage with Peleus, the episode of the golden apple, the