A Commentary on Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica 14 [Hardcover]

The final book of the third century Greek epicPosthomericatells the story of the Trojan War from Helen's return to Menelaus and the sacrifice of Polyxena to the homeward journey of the victorious Greeks. This detailed commentary offers not only a literary analysis of the poem, but also examines its engagement with the earlier epic tradition.ThePosthomerica, a Greek epic by Quintus of Smyrna believed to have been written in the third century AD, tells the story of the Trojan War beginning with the events immediately following the sack of Troy and the narrative of theIliad. Valued as the earliest surviving account of this period, Book 14, the final book of the poem, covers much of the same ground as the lostIliupersis(The Sack of Troy) attributed to Arctinus of Miletus, from Helen's return to Menelaus and the sacrifice of Polyxena, to the homeward journey of the victorious Greeks, which is abruptly interrupted by a divine storm.This detailed commentary divides the text ofPosthomerica14 into smaller narrative units, introducing each with an overview of the relevant literary tradition and a discussion of Quintus' possible direct models. There follows an exhaustive line-by-line commentary addressing points of literary, stylistic, lexicographic, and textual-critical interest, and providing readers with a range of notes on background and vocabulary. The aim throughout is not only to illuminate the main features of Quintus' poetry, but also to offer as full an interpretation as possible ofPosthomerica14 within both its contemporary literary context and also in dialogue with the earlier tradition, in particular the diction, motifs, and narrative and literary techniques of the Homeric poems and the earlier epic tradition more generally. For readers new to thePosthomerica, the volume also includes a thorough, and up-to-date introduction offering an accessible overview of the poems content, dates, context, lóJ