The Aithiopis (Greek: Αἰθιοπίς; Latin: Aethiopis) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the "Trojan" cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse. The story of the Aithiopis comes chronologically immediately after that of the Homeric Iliad, and is followed by that of the Little Iliad. The Aithiopis was attributed by ancient writers to Arktinos of Miletos. The poem comprised five books of verse in dactylic hexameter. The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, which retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. ... At the moment this page contains a list of links. ... In mathematics, see epic morphism. ... The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of the Acheans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. ... The Iliad (Greek Ιλιάς, Ilias) tells part of the story of the siege of the city of Ilium, i. ... The Little Iliad (Greek: Ἰλιὰς μικρά, Ilias mikra; Latin: Ilias parva) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. ... Arctinus of Miletus was one of the earliest poets of Greece and contributors to the epic cycle. ... Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. ...

Date

The Aithiopis was probably composed in the seventh century BCE, but there is much uncertainty. Ancient sources date Arktinos to the eighth century; but the earliest artistic representations of one of the most important characters, Penthesileia, date to about 600 BCE, suggesting a much later date.

Content

In current critical editions only five lines survive of the Aithiopis' original text. We are almost entirely dependent on a summary of the Cyclic epics contained in the Chrestomatheia (see also chrestomathy) attributed (almost certainly wrongly) to the 5th-century CE philosopher Proklos Diadochos. Fewer than ten other references give indications of the poem's storyline. Chrestomathy (Greek, from the words khrestos, useful, and mathein, to know) is a selection of linguistic writings which can help you to learn a language. ... Proclus Lycaeus (February 8, 412 – April 17, 487), surnamed The Successor (Greek Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος Próklos ho Diádokhos), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher. ...

The poem opens, shortly after the death of the Trojan hero Hektor, with the arrival of the Amazon warrior Penthesileia who has come to support the Trojans. She has a moment of glory in battle, but Achilleus kills her. The Greek warrior Thersites later taunts Achilleus, claiming that he had been in love with her, and Achilleus kills him too. Achilleus is ritually purified for the murder of Thersites. A citizen of the city of Troy (Ilium) as described by Homer. ... In Greek mythology, Hector (holding fast), or Hektor, was a Trojan prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War, equal to Ajax and surpassed only by Achilles. ... In Greek mythology, the Amazons were either an ancient legendary nation of female warriors or a contemporary land of women at the outer edges of the world. ... In Greek mythology, Penthesilea (also spelled Penthesilia) was an Amazonian queen, daughter of Ares and Otrera, sister of Hippolyte. ... For other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). ... In Greek mythology, Thersites, son of Agrius, was a rank-and-file soldier of the Greek army during the Trojan War. ...

Next another Trojan ally arrives, Memnon, son of Eos and Tithonos, leading an Ethiopian contingent and wearing armour made by the god Hephaistos. In battle Memnon kills Antilochos, a Greek warrior who was the son of Nestor and a great favourite of Achilleus. Achilleus then kills Memnon, and Zeus makes Memnon immortal at Eos' request. But in his rage Achilleus pursues the Trojans into the very gates of Troy, and in the Skaian Gates he is killed by an arrow shot by Paris, assisted by the god Apollo. Achilleus' body is rescued by Aias and Odysseus. In Greek mythology, Memnon was an Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. ... Eos, by Evelyn de Morgan (1850 - 1919), 1895 (Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC): for a Pre-Raphaelite painter, Eos was still the classical pagan equivalent of an angel Eos (dawn) was, in Greek mythology, the Titan Goddess of the dawn, who rose from her home at the edge of... In Greek mythology, Tithonus was Eos lover. ... The Temple of Hephaestus, Athens: western face. ... In Greek mythology, Antilochus (also transliterated as Antílokhos) was the son of Nestor and a good friend of Achilles. ... The word may have one of the following meanings. ... Paris (Greek: Πάρις; also known as Alexander, c. ... Apollo (Greek: Απόλλων, Apóllōn) is a god in Greek and Roman mythology, the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin of Artemis (goddess of the hunt). ... Aias (Greek: Αίας: Of the Earth), or Ajax, son of Telamon, king of Salamis, a legendary hero of ancient Greece. ... It has been suggested that Ulysses Bow be merged into this article or section. ...

The Greeks hold a funeral for Antilochos. Achilleus' mother, the sea nymph Thetis, comes with her sisters and the Muses to lament over Achilleus' body. Funeral games are held in honour of Achilleus, at which Achilleus' arms are offered as a prize for the greatest hero; and there develops a dispute over them between Aias and Odysseus. There the Aithiopis ends; it is uncertain whether the judgment of Achilleus' arms, and subsequent suicide of Aias, were told in the Aithiopis, in the next epic in the Cycle, the Little Iliad, or in both. This article is about the Greek sea nymph. ... For other uses see Muse (disambiguation). ... The Little Iliad (Greek: Ἰλιὰς μικρά, Ilias mikra; Latin: Ilias parva) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. ...

Editions

• Online editions (English translation):
  • Fragments of the Aithiopis translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (public domain)
  • Fragments of complete Epic Cycle translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914; Project Gutenberg edition
  • Proklos' summary of the Epic Cycle translated by Gregory Nagy
• Print editions (Greek):
  • A. Bernabé 1987, Poetarum epicorum Graecorum testimonia et fragmenta pt. 1 (Leipzig: Teubner)
  • M. Davies 1988, Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht)
• Print editions (Greek with English translation):
  • M.L. West 2003, Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press)