"More Useful and More Trustworthy": The Reception of the Greek Epic Cycle in Scholia to Homer, Pindar, and Euripides

Abstract:This article examines the citation context of fragments from the Epic Cycle in scholia in order to re-assess its ancient reception. In contrast to negative comments like Callimachus', literary criticism in practice demonstrates that the Cycle held great authority among readers and critics. In the Homeric scholia, commentators vigorously debated whether Cyclical epics should aid in the interpretation of Homer. In the scholia to Pindar and Euripides, the Cycle was used to explicate and even to emend the text. For Hellenistic poets like Lycophron, critics' presentation of the Cycle in scholia offered a generative model for continuing the Trojan War myth in dialogue with Homer.