Dictys Cretensis
Under the pseudonym Dictys Cretensis , the Ephemeris belli Troiani was published in the 4th century , a Latin novel about the Trojan War in six books. In addition to Dares Phrygius' treatment of the subject as an alternative to this, the work is of decisive importance for the reception of the Troy material in the Middle Ages and the early modern period.
plant
The Ephemeris belli Troiani is said to be based on an eyewitness account of a Cretan who took part in the Trojan War on the Greek side. It is based on a Greek text from the first or second century that has been lost except for two papyrus fragments . The later Acta diurna belli Troiani by Dares Phrygius, who was at least familiar with the adaptation of the Dictys Cretensis, also refer to it, but show the war from a Trojan perspective.
The fictional narrator, the Cretan Diktys, is said to have accompanied his King Idomeneus from Knossos to Troy and wrote a pro-Greek report on the siege and conquest of the city. It is said that his manuscript was discovered around the year 60 and translated from Phoenician into Latin on the orders of the Roman emperor Nero . This rather imaginative story about the creation and discovery of the work can be ruled out with a probability bordering on certainty.
There are some serious differences between the Ephemeris and the older works of the Iliad and the Epic Cyclus . In this way, divine interference is completely dispensed with. The focus is also on the love between Achilles and Polyxena , the daughter of the Trojan king Priam . In this way the motivation for his behavior becomes clearer than, for example, in the adaptation of Homer , in which the psychological background remains somewhat unclear despite all the character drawings.
In the 12th century the work of Dictys Cretensis was rediscovered and in the period that followed, alongside the counter-design by Dares Phrygius, it was formative for the reception of the Troy material up to modern times. When designing an Achilles, Goethe still used Dictys and Dares for the plot.
Transfers
- Marcus Tatius ("Tatius Alpinus"): Warhrachtige Hiſtori vnd beſchreybung / von dem Troianiſchen war vnd Destruction of the Stat Troie / By the highly respected writers of history / Dictyn Cretenſem / vñ Darem Phrygium / Erſnachtlich in Greek / ychribach be in Greek / ychriblich Latin Tatium etc. In addition to Latin changed into Teütſch / previously never gone / adorned with outwardly echoed figures . Haynrich Stayner, Augsburg 1536.
expenditure
- Dictys Cretensis: Ephemeridos belli Troiani libri . Published by Werner Eisenhut . Teubner, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-8154-1301-X ( Bibliotheca scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana ; reprint of the 2nd edition from 1973).
- Dares from Phrygia, Dictys from Crete: The war against Troy. How he really was . From the Latin by Wolfgang Hradsky. docupoint, Magdeburg 2005, ISBN 3-938142-61-8 .
- Dictys and Dares: War for Troy. Latin and German . Edited by Kai Brodersen . De Gruyter, Berlin 2019, ISBN 978-3-11-062013-9 ( Tusculum Collection ).
literature
- Stefan Merkle: The Ephemeris belli Troiani des Dictys of Crete (= studies on classical philology . Volume 44 ). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-631-40890-0 (also dissertation, Munich 1988).
- Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Volume 2: Baanes – Eznik of Kolb . Brepols, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , pp. 342-344.
Web links
- Literature by and about Dictys Cretensis in the catalog of the German National Library
- English translation in Theoi Project
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Dictys Cretensis |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Dicties of the Cretans |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Latin author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | 4th century or 5th century |