Question regarding the Iliad and Odyssey. Did the "ancients", lets say the greeks after the time of Alexander the Great and the romans afterwards, did they read (I know they were originally recited) the same versions of those two works or were there still multiple "versions" of them? Do we know when did they start having "standard" versions? Also, do we have a concrete date of the first mention of either poems?
Bonus question.
Do we know if the other Epic Cycle works were still known during late antiquity? When do we start losing tracks of them?
Can anyone recommend "scholarly" books abouts those two works?
You would think thered be knowledgeable people here. Guess not.
>>1234273
bump
shit thread OP kill yourself
>>1234273
Hard to say the versions we know was just lucky enough to survive til the Renaissance, so who knows if there were multiple versions?
In all likely hood they were written down much like the bible, some one or two hundred after the events they describe.
>>1234273
Don't know about ancient times, but there were different versions in the middle ages.
>>Once possessed of this wonderful art of reading that Aimery had while yet a lad, he could delve into the wonderful parchments of romances which told him of the brave deeds done of old. Especially, he learned all about the Trojan War, which was one long baronial feud between North French cavaliers fighting for the fair Helen, imprisoned in a strong castle. His sympathy was excited for Hector as the under dog. He read of many exploits which had escaped the knowledge of Homer, but which were well known to Romance trouvères. He reveled in scenes of slaughter whereof the figures are very precise, it being clearly stated that 870,000 Greeks and 680,000 Trojans perished in the siege of that remarkable Trojan fortress.
>>Almost equally interesting was the history of Alexander, based on the version of the pseudo-Callisthenes. This was very unlike the accounts which other ages consider authentic. The names of the battles with Darius were altered, strange adventures with the Sirens crept into the narrative, and finally Alexander (the tale ran) died sorely lamenting that he could not conquer France and make Paris his capital.
>>The story of Cæsar is also available, but it seems less romantic, although full of episodes of fairies and dwarfs.
Source: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46455/46455-h/46455-h.htm
