The Oedipodea (Ancient Greek: Οἰδιπόδεια, romanized: Oidipódeia) is a lost poem of the Theban cycle, a part of the Epic Cycle (Επικὸς Κύκλος). The poem was about 6,600 verses long and the authorship was credited by ancient authorities to Cinaethon (Κιναίθων), a barely-known poet who probably lived in Sparta.[1] Eusebius says that he flourished in 764/3 BC.[2][3] Only three short fragments and one testimonium survived.
The Oedipodea told the story of the Sphinx and Oedipus and presented an alternative view of the Oedipus myth. According to Pausanias,[4] Cinaethon states that the marriage between Oedipus and his own mother, Jocasta, was childless; his children had been born from another engagement with Euryganeia (Εὐρυγανεία), daughter of Hyperphas (Ὑπέρφας). That is all we know about these two characters.
A small glimpse of Cinaethon's style survives in Plutarch's On the Pythia's Oracles 407b: "he added unnecessary pomp and drama to the oracles".
References
edit- ↑ IG 14.1292 2.11; Euseb. Chron. Ol. 4.1.
- ↑ Eusebius. Chronicle, "Olympiad", 4.1.
- ↑ West, Martin L. Greek Epic Fragments. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2003, pp. 250-255.
- ↑ Pausanias. Description of Greece, 9.5.10-1; West, Fr. 1.
Select editions and translations
editCritical editions
edit- Kinkel, G. (1877), Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta, vol. 1, Leipzig: B.G. Teubneri.
- Allen, T.W. (1912), Homeri opera. Tomus V: Hymni, Cyclus, Fragmenta, Margites, Batrachomyomachia, Vitae, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-814534-9
{{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help). - Bernabé, A. (1988), Poetae epici Graecae, vol. 1, Leipzig: Teubner, ISBN 978-3-598-71706-2.
- Davies, M. (1988), Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, ISBN 978-3-525-25747-0.
Translations
edit- Evelyn-White, H.G. (1936), Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica (3rd rev. ed.), Cambridge, Massachusetts
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).- —— (1914), Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MacMillan Co, ISBN 978-0-674-99063-0
{{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help). English translation with facing Greek text; now obsolete except for its translations of the ancient quotations.
- —— (1914), Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MacMillan Co, ISBN 978-0-674-99063-0
- West, M.L. (2003), Greek Epic Fragments, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, ISBN 978-0-674-99605-2. Greek text with facing English translation
Bibliography
edit- Davies, M. (1989), Greek Epic Cycle, London, ISBN 978-1-85399-039-7
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).