Abstract

This paper considers the Hellenistic poets' attitude towards pre-Trojan war myths; in particular, it examines the Hellenistic reception of six narratives from the Cypria: the marriage of Peleus and Thetis; the duel between the Dioscuri and Idas and Lynceus; the story of Telephus; the love affair between Achilles and Deidameia; the abandonment of Philoctetes on Lemnos; and the involvement of the Achaeans with the priest Anius and his daughters, the Oenotropae. Furthermore, it is argued that the reception of these stories from the Cypria may be seen as a metaliterary comment upon epic poetry, firstly because narratives from the Epic Cycle are adapted to fit epic subgenres, such as the elegy, the epyllion, the hymn and the idyll, and secondly because the neoteric versions of these narratives put particular emphasis on certain motifs, types of hero and narrative techniques which are typical of Hellenistic poetics.