Trifiodoro means ‘gift of Triphis’, one of the local deities of his home town Panopolis, today Akhmim, in Egypt.
TRIFIODORO is
thought to have lived in the third c. AD and his only surviving work is "La presa di Troia", an epic poem in 691 verses.
Other recorded titles include Marathoniaca
and The Story of Hippodamea.
There is little known about the life of Trifiodor other than two entries
in the Byzantine lexicon or encyclopedia the Suda (T 1111 and 1112), thought to
refer to the same individual.
The Suda indicates that he was from Panopolis
(today Akhmim, Egypt) and that he was a grammarian and epic poet, but does not
help with his dating.
Traditionally TRIFIODORO was dated to the fifth century because he
was thought imitate the Dionysiaca of Nonnus of Panopolis (then dated to the
fourth or fifth century) and he was in his turn imitated by Colluto (he lived
under emperor Anastasius, 491-518 -- and was the author of "Il ratto d'Elena").
However, the publication in the 1970s of a
fragment of papyrus from Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. 41.2946), containing lines 301-402
of the Sack of Troy and dated to the third or early fourth century, has made
most scholars place him in the third century (see the editions of Livrea,
Gerlaud and Dubielzig).
Triphiodorus' pagan name cannot be considered a proof that he was a pagan
and nothing in his poem allows us to call him a Christian.
The reference in
lines 604-5 to children paying with their lives for the sins of their parents is
not decisive, having classical parallels such Homer Iliad 3.298-301.
Triphiodorus' only extant work is "La presa di Troia", a 691-verse epic poem,
narrating events from the capture of the Trojan seer Helenus to the sailing of
the Greek troops after the capture of Troy.
The poem begins with an invocation to Calliope, the Muse of epic poetry
(lines 1-5).
The narrative is introduced with a summary of the dire situation of
the troops of the Greeks and Trojans (lines 6-39).
Both are mined by the tiredness of years of fighting and heavy casualties.
Then the Greeks capture the
Trojan seer and following his advice call Neoptolemo (Achilles’ son) to join
their lines and steal the Palladion from Troy (lines 40-56).
The construction of
the Wooden Horse follows and Triphiodoro gives a long description (lines
57-107).
The Greeks have an assembly in which Odysseo convinces the most brave
fighters to hide with him in the horse and the rest of the troops to pretend
they are fleeing from Troy, while preparing to come back the following night
(108-234).
The following morning the Trojans discover the disappearance of the
Achaean army, inspect their camp and admire the Wooden Horse (235-57).
Sinon
appears before them covered in blood and convinces Priam to take the horse into
their citadel to win Athena’s attention and avoid that she helps the Greeks to
return (258-303).
The Trojans transport the horse and break the otherwise
indestructible walls of Troy to bring it into their citadel (304-57).
Cassandra
tries to make them come into their senses but Priamo orders to lock her up
(358-443).
While they are celebrating the end of the war, Aphrodite tells ELENA
to join Menelao (who is hiding in the horse).
ELENA goes to the temple of
Athena where the horse is kept and calls the names of the wives of the hidden
heroes, so as to tempt them to come out.
One of them, Anticlo, is about to give
in and ULISSE
has to strangle him, while Athena orders Helen
to go to her room
and light a torch to call
the Greek fleet back to Troy for the final battle
(454-98a).
While the Trojans are overcome by a deep slumber, the gods abandon
Troy and Helen and Sinon light torches to guide the return of the Greek fleet
(498b-521).
The fleet arrives and the hidden warriors leave the horse, giving
start to a long night of fighting, full of dramatic episodes (506-663).
The poet
then decides to put a stop to the narrative and conclude (664-7).
The poem
finishes with the a brief description of how at the beginning of the new day,
the victors check for survivors and booty, set Troy on fire, sacrifice Polyxena
to appease the spirit of Achilles, distribute the booty and leave for good
(668-91).
"The Achaeans poured the blood of Polyxena over the tomb of dead Achilles
to propitiate his wrath, and took each his lot of Trojan women and divided all
their other spoil, both gold and silver: wherewith they loaded their deep ships
and through the booming sea set sail from Troy, having made and end of the war."
The “Sack of Troy” can be considered part of a late antique vogue for
mythological epic, including as well: the “Posthomerica” by Quintus of Smyrna
(third century AD), the “Dionysiaca” by Nonnus of Panopolis (mid fifth c. AD),
the “Ratto d'Elena” (by Colluto) and the Description of the Statues in the
Terms of Zeuxippus by Christodorus of Coptus (early sixth century, transmitted
as book 2 of the Palatine Anthology).
In this poem Triphiodorus shows a deep understanding of Homer and the
grammatical tradition of interpretation of the Homeric poems (e.g. in lines 60-1
he shows that he knows about the editorial tradition of Homer Iliad 5.62-4).
He
quotes Hesiod (especially Triph. 136-8, after Hes. Op. 57-8) and Pindar (Triph.
643, after Pi. N. 7.42), Hellenistic poetry (e.g. Triph. 318-35, after AR
1.362-90).
His Cassandra is reminiscent of in Aeschylus’ Agamemnon and
Euripides’ Trojan Women.[3]
Regarding a possible influence of Virgil Aeneid 2, there are some glaring
differences between the two accounts of the end of Troy.
Virgil develops the
character of Laocoon (A. 2.40-56, 199-231), and only mentions Cassandra (246-7),
while Triphiodorus focuses on Cassandra (358-443) and does not mention Laocoon.
On the contrary, Virgil and Triphiodorus are particularly close in the treatment
of the figure of Sinon, in particular in their speeches (compare Aeneid 2.76-96,
103-4, 189-94, and Triph. 265-82, 292-303).[4]
Besides the Sack of Troy, the entries of the Suda (T 1111 and 1112)
attribute to Triphiodorus two more poems:
"Marathoniaca" probably narrated how Theseus defeated the bull of Marathon.
A Story of
Hippodamea (Greek: Τὰ κατὰ Ἱπποδάμειαν) is on one of the females of this name
(e.g. the daughter of King Oenomaus, who killed all her suitors in a chariot
race until Pelops defeated him).
The Suda also mentions two grammatical works:
the Lipogrammatic Odyssey (probably a re-writing of the Odyssey suppressing a
letter in each of the books: a in book 1, b in book 2 and so on) and a
Paraphrase of Homer’s comparisons (Greek: Παράφρασις τῶν Ὁμήρου παραβόλων), a
study of the long comparisons in the Homeric poems (since Greek: παραβολή is a
long simile).
Triphiodorus influenced the “Dionysiaca” of Nonnus of Panopolis (e.g. Nonn.
D. 25.306, after Triph. 14), Colluthus’ Rapt of Helen (e.g. Collut. 195-8, after
Triph. 56-61), Musaeus’ Hero and Leander (e.g. Musae. 140, after Triph. 32) and
Paul the Silentiary (e.g. Descr. Soph. 283, after Triph. 631).[5]
REFERENCES
Complete (and update) bibliographical record: https://sites.google.com/site/hellenisticbibliography/empire/triphiodorus
Mair, W. A. transl., Oppian, Colluthus, Tryphiodorus (Loeb Classical Library Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1958) ISBN 0-674-99241-5
Giangrande, Giuseppe, Review: Tryphiodorus (The Classical Review, The New Series, Vol. 15, No. 3 Dec., 1965), pp. 282–283
Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (Walton & Maberly, 1859), pp. 1177–1178
Knight, J.F.W., Iliupersides (The Classical Journal, Vol. 26, No. 3/4 Jul. - Oct., 1932), pp. 178–189
Jones, W. J. Jr., Trojan Legend: Who is Sinon? (The
Classical Journal, Vol. 61, No.3 Dec., 1965), pp. 122–128
M. Campbell (1985), Lexicon in Triphiodorum, Hildesheim
F. J. Cuartero Iborra (1988), Trifiodor, La Presa de Troia, Barcelona
U. Dubielzig (1996), Triphiodor, Die Einnahme Ilions, Tübingen
B. Gerlaud (1982), Triphiodore, La Prise d’Ilion, Paris
E. Livrea (1982), Triphiodorus, Ilii excidium, Leipzig
L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin
M. Campbell (1985), Lexicon in Triphiodorum, Hildesheim
F. J. Cuartero Iborra (1988), Trifiodor, La Presa de Troia, Barcelona
U. Dubielzig (1996), Triphiodor, Die Einnahme Ilions, Tübingen
B. Gerlaud (1982), Triphiodore, La Prise d’Ilion, Paris
E. Livrea (1982), Triphiodorus, Ilii excidium, Leipzig
L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ http://163.1.169.40/cgi-bin/library?a=q&r=1&hs=1&e=p-000-00---0POxy--00-0-0--0prompt-10---4------0-1l--1-en-50---20-about---00031-001-1-0utfZz-8-00&t=0&q=2946
2.Jump up ^ D. Monaco (2007), “Il lessico di Trifiodoro”, Glotta 83, 127-91
3.Jump up ^ L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin, pp. 38ff.
4.Jump up ^ L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin, pp. 64 ff.
5.Jump up ^ L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin, 91-2
2.Jump up ^ D. Monaco (2007), “Il lessico di Trifiodoro”, Glotta 83, 127-91
3.Jump up ^ L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin, pp. 38ff.
4.Jump up ^ L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin, pp. 64 ff.
5.Jump up ^ L. Miguélez-Cavero (2013), Triphiodorus, The Sack of Troy: A General Introduction and a Commentary, Berlin, 91-2
External links[edit]
The Taking of Ilios in English
Categories: Late Antique writers
Hellenistic Egyptians
Hellenistic Egyptians
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