'Antehomerica' : the mythical tradition of the 'Abduction of Helen' and its late Antique reception in Colluthus and Dracontius
This is a study of the literary tradition of antehomerica (i.e. the events that led to the Trojan War), and in particular the myth of the Abduction of Helen, from the archaic period up to Late Antiquity. The research aims at tracing the stages in the development of the different accounts, tracking innovations, as well as finding explanations for them. I explore chains of influences between different versions of the story's constituent episodes and, where possible, indicate why an author may have chosen to follow or reject a particular tradition. The texts covered span every period and genre from the Epic Cycle through to late antique Christian chronicles (and occasionally beyond), in both Latin and Greek. Within this, I focus especially on two epyllia which are both entitled The Abduction of Helen and were both composed around 500 AD: the ÎÌÏÏÎ±ÎłÎ·Ì ÎÌÎ"Î"ÌÎœÎ·Ï (Harpage) was written by Colluthus of Lycopolis in Egypt in Greek, and the De Raptu Helenae (Romulea 8) by Dracontius from Carthage, Africa, in Latin. Despite their common title and date, the two poems contrast greatly with each other in their treatment of the myth, as they follow different sources; yet shared models can also be found. On
Gilka, Marcelina
'Antehomerica' : the mythical tradition of the 'Abduction of Helen' and its late Antique reception in Colluthus and Dracontius. This is a study of the literary tradition of antehomerica (i.e. the events that led to the Trojan War), and in particular the myth of the Abduction of Helen, from the archaic period up to Late Antiquity. The research aims at tracing the stages in the development of the different accounts, tracking innovations, as well as finding explanations for them. I explore chains of influences between different versions of the story's constituent episodes and, where possible, indicate why an author may have chosen to follow or reject a particular tradition. The texts covered span every period and genre from the Epic Cycle through to late antique Christian chronicles (and occasionally beyond), in both Latin and Greek. Within this, I focus especially on two epyllia which are both entitled The Abduction of Helen and were both composed around 500 AD: the ÎÌÏÏÎ±ÎłÎ·Ì ÎÌÎ"Î"ÌÎœÎ·Ï (Harpage) was written by Colluthus of Lycopolis in Egypt in Greek, and the De Raptu Helenae (Romulea 8) by Dracontius from Carthage, Africa, in Latin. Despite their common title and date, the two poems contrast greatly with each other in their treatment of the myth, as they follow different sources; yet shared models can also be found. On
mythical tradition late_antique reception study literary_tradition event_lead war particular myth archaic_period late_antiquity aim_trace stage_development different account track innovation well find explanation them explore chain influence different version story constituent episode possible indicate author may choose follow reject particular tradition text cover span every period genre epic cycle late_antique christian chronicle occasionally beyond latin greek within focus especially entitle compose around iii write egypt greek africa latin despite common title date poem contrast greatly treatment myth follow different_source yet share model also_find