Tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle

Jonathan S. Burgess is an associate professor of classical studies at the University of Toronto.

A lively and venturesome study of the relationship between the Homeric epics and the largely lost Cyclic poems... A very interesting and accessible book. -- S. Douglas Olson Religious Studies Review This is a bracingly skeptical treatment of some important issues... A fresh, engaging exercise in heterodox scholarship. Greece and Rome [Jonathan Burgess] has firmly established the case that the Cyclic epics should be regarded as more authoritative representatives of Greek tradition about the Trojan War than the poems of Homer... Essential reading for everyone seriously interested in Homer and Greek epic tradition. -- Margalit Finkelberg Bryn Mawr Classical Review The Iliad and the Odyssey continue to be translated anew, and noticed when they are. Less widely noticed [is] other poetry about the Trojan War... The range and argument of the book make it valuable to any with an interest in what we call Homeric, and indeed, in ancient traditions generally. Virginia Quarterly Review Both the author's remarkable knowledge of previous scholarship on the topic and his eminently moderate and well-balanced approach make this volume a most valuable resource for approaching this complex field, and it immediately becomes indispensable for the study of Homeric and early non-Homeric epic. -- Mark W. Edwards Phoenix Anyone who has a serious interest in Homer and the Greek epic tradition should find this a valuable and thought-provoking book. -- Mike Chappell Journal of Classics Teaching 2005 A well argued book that packs a great deal of scholarship and insight into less than two-hundred pages. It deserves careful and repeated reading. -- D.M. Carter Polis 2010

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsNote to ReaderList of AbbreviationsIntroduction Part I: The Epic Cycle and the Tradition of the Trojan WarChapter 1. Origins of the Cycle PoemsChapter 2. The Manufacture of the Epic CycleChapter 3. The "Cyclic" Tradition of the Trojan WarChapter 4. "Cyclic" Trojan War ImagesChapter 5. Later ManifestationsPart II: Homer and the Tradition of the Trojan WarChapter 6. "Cyclic" Myth in the Homeric PoemsChapter 7. The Date of the Homeric PoemsChapter 8. Iliadic ImagesChapter 9. Cyclops: Image and FolktaleChapter 10. Homeric PassagesPart III: The Epic Cycle and HomerChapter 11. Cropping Around the Homeric PoemsChapter 12. Extent of the Cycle PoemsChapter 13. Homeric Influence on the Epic Cycle?Chapter 14. Non-Homeric Aspects of the Epic CycleConclusionAppendix A: Photos and ProclusAppendix B: Schematization of R. Cook's TablesAppendix C: Trojan War Images to 600 B.C.E.Appendix D: Blinding and Escape ImagesAppendix E: Select Epic Passages Featuring LeavesNotesReferencesIndex