Nostoi
The poem known as the Nostoi remains a ghost in ancient Greek literature. No complete manuscript survives from antiquity to confirm its exact authorship. Ancient writers offered conflicting attributions for this work of verse. Some sources named Agias, an 8th century BC poet, as the creator. Other accounts credited Homer with writing these lines. A third group pointed to Eumelos of Corinth as the true author. These three names appear in lists of Cyclic Poets who wrote about the Trojan War. The text itself likely reached its final form during the 7th or 6th century BC. Scholars cannot pinpoint when the poem was first written down on papyrus or parchment. This uncertainty defines the study of the Nostoi today.
This lost epic occupied a specific slot within the larger Trojan cycle narrative. It followed the story of the Iliupersis which described the Sack of Ilium. The events here occurred after the fall of Troy and before the journey of Odysseus began. The sequence placed the return home of heroes between the destruction of the city and the wanderings of one man. Five books of dactylic hexameter verse made up the original structure. Modern scholars view this placement as essential to understanding the flow of Greek mythological time. The poem served as a bridge connecting the end of war to the beginning of individual struggles at home.
Only five and a half lines of the actual poem survive in modern critical editions. Researchers rely heavily on a summary attributed to an unknown Proklos for plot details. This grammarian possibly identified with Eutychius Proclus lived in the 2nd century AD. His chrestomathy contains the only substantial account of the storyline. A few other ancient references provide minor indications of what happened. H.G. Evelyn-White translated these fragments into English in 1914. M.L. West published a comprehensive edition in 2003 through Harvard University Press. A. Bernabé released a Greek text version in 1987 from Leipzig. These publications preserve the scant evidence available for study today.
The goddess Athena grew wrathful over the impious behavior shown during the sack of Troy. Agamemnon waited behind while Diomedes and Nestor set sail immediately for Greece. Those two men reached their homes safely without incident. Menelaus launched his ships but encountered a violent storm that destroyed most of his fleet. He landed in Egypt where he remained delayed for several years. The prophet Calchas traveled by land to Colophon before dying there. Achilles appeared as a ghost to warn Agamemnon about his future fate. Zeus sent a storm against Agamemnon at Athena's request causing Ajax the Lesser to die on rocks near Euboea. Neoptolemus followed advice from his grandmother Thetis to wait and make sacrifices. He traveled home by land through Thrace where he met Odysseus at Maroneia. Phoenix died during this journey before Neoptolemus arrived home to Peleus.
Agamemnon returned home only to be murdered by his wife Clytemnestra. Her lover Aegisthus, who was also Agamemnon's cousin, participated in the killing. Their son Orestes later avenged the murder by killing both parents. This sequence became known as the Oresteia section of the poem. Nestor and Menelaos narrated these events in books 3 and 4 of the Odyssey. Aeschylus used this material as the basis for his trilogy of tragic plays. The story concluded with Menelaus finally arriving home from Egypt after his long delay. Only Odysseus remained unreturned among the Greek heroes at the end of the Nostoi. His own return journey would be told separately in the Odyssey epic.
H.G. Evelyn-White produced an English translation of the fragments in 1914 that remains available online. Project Gutenberg hosts a complete edition of the Epic Cycle translated by him. Gregory Nagy provided a translation of Proklos' summary for modern readers. Malcolm Davies published Greek text fragments in 1988 through Vandenhoek & Ruprecht. Jonathan Burgess wrote about the tradition of the Trojan War in Homer and the Epic Cycle in 2004. These critical editions allow contemporary scholars to reconstruct the lost narrative. The works preserve the five surviving lines and the summary details for academic study. Researchers continue to analyze these texts to understand ancient Greek literary history.
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Common questions
Who wrote the Nostoi poem?
Ancient sources attribute the authorship of the Nostoi to Agias, Homer, or Eumelos of Corinth. No complete manuscript survives from antiquity to confirm which poet created the work.
When was the Nostoi written and when did it take place?
The text likely reached its final form during the 7th or 6th century BC while events occurred after the fall of Troy before Odysseus began his journey. The summary attributed to Proklos lived in the 2nd century AD.
Where can scholars find surviving fragments of the Nostoi today?
Only five and a half lines of the actual poem survive in modern critical editions alongside a summary by an unknown Proklos. H.G. Evelyn-White translated these fragments into English in 1914 and M.L. West published a comprehensive edition in 2003 through Harvard University Press.
What happened to Agamemnon according to the Nostoi narrative?
Agamemnon returned home only to be murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus who was also Agamemnon's cousin. Their son Orestes later avenged the murder by killing both parents in what became known as the Oresteia section of the poem.
Why does the Nostoi matter for understanding Greek mythology?
This lost epic occupied a specific slot within the larger Trojan cycle narrative following the Iliupersis which described the Sack of Ilium. The sequence placed the return home of heroes between the destruction of the city and the wanderings of one man serving as a bridge connecting the end of war to individual struggles at home.
All sources
1 references cited across the entry
- 1harvnbMalkin (1998) p. 136: "Hagias of Troizen in his ''Nostoi'' (seventh century?)"Malkin — 1998