Editing Troilus (section)

===Ancient literary sources supporting the standard myth===

====Homer and the missing texts of the archaic and classical periods====
The earliest surviving literary reference to Troilus is in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]]'', which formed one part of the ''[[Epic Cycle]]''. It is believed that Troilus' name was not invented by Homer and that a version of his story was already in existence.<ref>Burgess (2001: p.64).</ref> Late in the poem, Priam berates his surviving sons, and compares them unfavourably to their dead brothers including ''Trôïlon hippiocharmên''.<ref>Homer ''Iliad'' (XXIV, 257) The text for the whole passage in Greek, with hotlinks to parallel English translations, is available at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0133&layout=&loc=24.257]. (Verified 1 August 2007.)</ref> The interpretation of ''hippiocharmên'' is controversial but the root ''hipp-'' implies a connection with horses. For the purpose of the version of the myth given above, the word has been taken as meaning "delighting in horses".<ref name="Homer">Carpenter (1991: p.17), March (1998: p.389), Gantz (1993: p.597) and Lattimore's translation at {{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070904141913/http://www.library.northwestern.edu/homer/ |archive-date=2007-09-04 |access-date=2007-08-15}} (and maybe Woodford (1993: p.55)) interpret ''hippiocharmên'' as horse-loving; Boitani (1989: p.1), who quotes [[Alexander Pope]]'s translation of the ''Iliad'' and the [[Liddell and Scott]] lexicon and translations available at the [[Perseus Project]] (checked 1 August 2007) interpret the word as meaning chariot warrior. Sommerstein (2007) wavers between the two meanings giving each in different places in the same book (p.44, p.197). The confusion over the meaning dates back to ancient times. The [[Homeric scholarship#Scholia|Scholia D]] (available in Greek at {{cite web |title=Archived copy |url=http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/vanthiel/scholiaD.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070610171826/http://www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/ifa/vanthiel/scholiaD.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-10 |access-date=2007-08-14}} link checked 14 August 2007) says that the word can mean either a horse warrior or someone who takes delight in horses (p.579). Other scholia argue that Homer cannot have considered Troilus a boy, either because he is considered one of the best or because he is described as a horse-warrior. (Scholia S-I24257a and S-I24257b respectively, available in Greek at [http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014154/http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv|date=2011-07-20}}. Link checked 14 August 2007.)</ref> Sommerstein believes that Homer wishes to imply in this reference that Troilus was killed in battle, but argues that Priam's later description of Achilles as ''andros paidophonoio'' ("boy-slaying man")<ref>Homer ''Iliad'' 24.506.</ref> indicates that Homer was aware of the story of Troilus as a murdered child; Sommerstein believes that Homer is playing here on the ambiguity of the root ''paido-'' meaning boy in both the sense of a young male and of a son.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp. 44, 197–8).</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; width: 40%; margin-left: 1em;; font-size: 100%; line-height: 1.2;"
|+ style="font-size: 120%; margin-bottom: 0.5em;" | Ancient written sources for Troilus
|-
! Author
! Work
! Date
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Full length descriptions in mythological literature
|-
| [[Stasinus of Cyprus]]?
| ''[[Cypria]]''
| late 7th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Phrynichus (tragic poet)|Phrynichus]]
| ''Troilos''
| 6th–5th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Sophocles]]
| ''Troilos''
| 5th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Strattis]]
| ''Troilos''
| 5th–4th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Dares Phrygius]]
| ''de excidio Trojae historia''
| parts written 1st–6th century?
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Briefer references in mythological literature
|-
| [[Homer]]
| ''[[Iliad]]''
| 8th–7th century BC
|-
| [[Stesichorus]]
| possibly in ''Iliupersis''
| 7th–6th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Ibycus]]
| unknown text of which only a few words survive
| late 6th century BC
|-
| [[Sophocles]]
| ''Polyxene''
| 5th century BC (lost)
|-
| [[Lycophron]]
| ''Alexandra''
| 3rd century BC?
|-
| [[Virgil]]
| ''[[Aeneid]]''
| 29–19 BC
|-
| [[Seneca the Younger]]
| ''Agamemnon''
| 1st century
|-
| [[Dictys Cretensis]]
| ''Ephemeridos belli Trojani''
| 1st–3rd century
|-
| [[Ausonius]]
| ''Epitaphs''
| 4th century
|-
| [[Quintus of Smyrna]]
| ''[[Posthomerica]]''
| Late 4th century?
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Literary allusions to Troilus
|-
| Ibycus
| ''[[Polycrates]] poem''
| late 6th century BC
|-
| [[Callimachus]]
| ''Epigrams''
| 3rd century BC
|-
| [[Plautus]]
| ''[[Bacchides (play)|Bacchides]]''
| 3rd–2nd century BC
|-
| [[Cicero]]
| ''[[Tusculanae Quaestiones]]''
| c.45 BC
|-
| [[Horace]]
| [[Odes (Horace)|Odes Book 2]]
| 23 BC
|-
| [[Statius]]
| ''[[Silvae]]''
| Late 1st century
|-
| [[Dio Chrysostom]]
| ''Discourses''
| 1st–2nd centuries
|-
| "Clement"
| ''[[Clementine literature|Clementine Homilies]]''
| 2nd century?
|-
!colspan="3" style="background: #dfdfdf;" | Ancient and medieval academic commentaries on and summaries of ancient literature.
|-
| Various anonymous authors
| Scholia to the ''Iliad''
| 5th century BC to 9th century?
|-
| [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]]
| ''Fabulae''
| 1st century BC – 1st century AD
|-
| The "Pseudo-Apollodorus"
| [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Library]]
| 1st–2nd century
|-
| [[Eutychius Proclus]]?
| ''[[Chrestomathy]]''
| 2nd century?
|-
| [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]]
| Scholia to the ''Aeneid''
| Late 4th century
|-
| [[First Vatican Mythographer]]
| Mythography
| 9th–11th century?
|-
| [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]]
| Scholia to the ''Iliad''
| 12th century
|-
| [[John Tzetzes]]
| Scholia to the ''Alexandra''
| 12th century
|}

Troilus' death was also described in the ''[[Cypria]]'', one of the parts of the ''Epic Cycle'' that is no longer extant. The poem covered the events preceding the Trojan War and the first part of the war itself up to the events of the ''Iliad''. Although the ''Cypria'' does not survive, most of an ancient summary of the contents, thought to be by [[Eutychius Proclus]], remains. Fragment 1 mentions that Achilles killed Troilus, but provides no more detail.<ref>The text is available at [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/homer/cypria.htm]. (Verified 1 August 2007.)</ref> However, Sommerstein takes the verb used to describe the killing (''phoneuei'') as meaning that Achilles murders Troilus.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p.198).</ref>

In Athens, the early [[tragedian]]s [[Phrynichus (tragic poet)|Phrynicus]] and [[Sophocles]] both wrote plays called ''Troilos'' and the comic playwright [[Strattis]] wrote a parody of the same name. Of the esteemed [[Nine lyric poets]] of the archaic and classical periods, [[Stesichorus]] may have referred to Troilus' story in his ''Iliupersis'' and [[Ibycus]] may have written in detail about the character. With the exception of these authors, no other pre-[[Hellenistic]] written source is known to have considered Troilus at any length.<ref>All these literary sources are discussed in Boitani (1989: p.16), Sommerstein (2007) and/or Gantz (1993: p597, p.601).</ref>

Unfortunately, all that remains of these texts are the smallest fragments or summaries and references to them by other authors. What does survive can be in the form of papyrus fragments, plot summaries by later authors or quotations by other authors. In many cases these are just odd words in [[lexicon]]s or grammar books with an attribution to the original author.<ref>Sommerstein (2007:pp. xviii–xx).</ref> Reconstructions of the texts are necessarily speculative and should be viewed with "wary but sympathetic scepticism".<ref>Malcolm Health on page 111 of "Subject Reviews: Greek Literature", ''Greece & Rome'' Vol.54, No 1. (2007), pp.111–6,[http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FGAR%2FGAR54_01%2FS0017383507000071a.pdf&code=8a624476e03828b381bc6fe8a66d382c] (link checked 1 August 2007). On pages 112–3 Heath reviews Sommerstein et al. (2007).</ref> In Ibycus' case all that remains is a parchment fragment containing a mere six or seven words of verse accompanied with a few lines of [[scholia]]. Troilus is described in the poem as godlike and is killed outside Troy. From the scholia, he is clearly a boy. The scholia also refer to a sister, someone "watching out" and a murder in the sanctuary of Thymbrian Apollo. While acknowledging that these details may have been reports of other later sources, Sommerstein thinks it probable that Ibycus told the full ambush story and is thus the earliest identifiable source for it.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.199–200).</ref> Of Phrynicus, one fragment remains considered to refer to Troilus. This speaks of "the light of love glowing on his reddening cheeks".<ref>3 fr 13 Sn, cited in Gantz (1993: p.597), Sommerstein (2007: p.201) and Boitani (1989: p.16).</ref>

Of all these fragmentary pre-Hellenistic sources, the most is known of Sophocles ''Troilos''. Even so, only 54 words have been identified as coming from the play.<ref>Text available with parallel translation in Sommerstein (2007 pp:218–27).</ref> Fragment 619 refers to Troilus as an ''andropais'', a man-boy. Fragment 621 indicates that Troilus was going to a spring with a companion to fetch water or to water his horses.<ref>Sophocles fragment 621. Text available in the Loeb edition or Sommerstein (2007).</ref> A [[scholion]] to the ''Iliad''<ref>Scholia S-I24257a available in Greek at [http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014154/http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv|date=2011-07-20}}. Link checked 14 August 2007. Translated and discussed in Sommerstein (2007: p.203).</ref> states that Sophocles has Troilus ambushed by Achilles while exercising his horses in the Thymbra. Fragment 623 indicates that Achilles mutilated Troilus' corpse by a method known as [[maschalismos]]. This involved preventing the ghost of a murder victim from returning to haunt their killer by cutting off the corpse's extremities and stringing them under its armpits.<ref>Boitani (1989: p.15); Sommerstein (207: pp. 205–8).</ref> Sophocles is thought to have also referred to the maschalismos of Troilus in a fragment taken to be from an earlier play ''Polyxene''.<ref>Sophocles ''Troilus'' Fragment 528. Text with translation Sommerstein (2007: pp.74–5); discussed Sommerstein (2007: p.83).</ref>

Sommerstein attempts a reconstruction of the plot of the ''Troilos'', in which the title character is [[incest]]uously in love with Polyxena and tries to discourage the interest in marrying her shown by both Achilles and [[Sarpedon (Trojan War hero)|Sarpedon]], a Trojan ally and son of [[Zeus]]. Sommerstein argues that Troilus is accompanied on his fateful journey to his death, not by Polyxena, but by his tutor, a [[eunuch]] Greek slave.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.203–12).</ref> Certainly there is a speaking role for a eunuch who reports being castrated by Hecuba<ref>Sophocles ''Troilus'' (fr.620).</ref> and someone reports the loss of their adolescent master.<ref>Sophocles ''Troilus'' (fr.629).</ref> The incestuous love is deduced by Sommerstein from a fragment of Strattis' parody, assumed to partially quote Sophocles, and from his understanding that the Sophocles play intends to contrast [[barbarian]] customs, including incest, with Greek ones. Sommerstein also sees this as solving what he considers the need for an explanation of Achilles' treatment of Troilus' corpse, the latter being assumed to have insulted Achilles in the process of warning him off Polyxena.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.204–8).</ref> Italian professor of English and expert on Troilus, Piero Boitani, on the other hand, considers Troilus' rejection of Achilles' sexual advances towards him as sufficient motive for the mutilation.<ref>Boitani (1989, p:18).</ref>

====''Alexandra''====
The first surviving text with more than the briefest mention of Troilus is ''Alexandra'', a [[Hellenistic]] poem dating from no earlier than the 3rd century BC by the tragedian [[Lycophron]] (or a namesake of his). The poem consists of the obscure prophetic ravings of [[Cassandra]]:<ref>Boitani (1989: p. 16).</ref>

{{quote|Ay! me, for thee fair-fostered flower, too, I groan, O lion whelp, sweet darling of thy kindred, who didst smite with fiery charm of shafts the fierce dragon and seize for a little loveless while in unescapable noose him that was smitten, thyself unwounded by thy victim: thou shalt forfeit thy head and stain thy father’s altar-tomb with thy blood.<ref>{{cite book| author= Lycophron| title= Alexandra| pages= 307–13| translator= A. W. Mair| publisher= [[Loeb Classical Library]]}} Also: [http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k71504d Greek manuscript] (accessed 1 August 2007)</ref>}}

This passage is explained in the [[Byzantine]] writer [[John Tzetzes]]' [[scholia]] as a reference to Troilus seeking to avoid the unwanted sexual advances of Achilles by taking refuge in his father Apollo's temple. When he refuses to come out, Achilles goes in and kills him on the altar.<ref>Tzetzes' comments are not readily available but are discussed by Gantz (1993: p. 601) and Boitani (1989: p. 17).</ref> Lycophron's scholiast also says that Apollo started to plan Achilles' death after the murder.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: p. 201).</ref> This begins to build up the elements of the version of Troilus' story given above: he is young, much loved and beautiful; he has divine ancestry, is beheaded by his rejected Greek lover and, we know from Homer, had something to do with horses. The reference to Troilus as a "lion whelp" hints at his having the potential to be a great hero, but there is no explicit reference to a prophecy linking the possibility of Troilus reaching adulthood and Troy then surviving.

====Other written sources====
No other extended passage about Troilus exists from before the [[Augustus|Augustan Age]]<!--you can probably find a better link than this, but at least this doesn't lead to a disambiguation page (Awadewit)--> by which time other versions of the character's story have emerged. The remaining sources compatible with the standard myth are considered below by theme.
[[Image:Akhilleus Athena Louvre CA6529.jpg|thumb|left|alt=An image painted on the body of a vase. A seated woman speaks to a man behind her while her hand gestures forward. The man wears greaves and a helmet and holds a shield and a spear.|Athena directing Achilles to attack Troilus. A feature of the tale not available from written sources. Detail of an Etruscan red-figure stamnos (from a pair known as "Fould stamnoi"), ca. 300 BC. From Vulci.]] [[Image:Troilos Louvre CA6529.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A naked youth holds the reins of a horse. He is naked apart from sandals and some a crown or garland on his head. Behind him is a shield, the [[aegis]] of Athena|An example of Troilus with only one horse. Reverse side of above]]
; '''Parentage''' : The [[Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)|Apollodorus]] responsible for the ''Library'' lists Troilus last of Priam and Hecuba's sons – a detail adopted in the later tradition – but then adds that it is said that the boy was fathered by Apollo.<ref>Apollodorus ''Library''(III.12.5). Greek text with link to parallel English text available at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0021&layout=&loc=3.12.5]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> On the other hand, [[Gaius Julius Hyginus|Hyginus]] includes Troilus in the middle of a list of Priam's sons without further comment.<ref>Hyginus ''Fabulae'' 90. English translation at [http://www.theoi.com/Text/HyginusFabulae2.html]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> In the early Christian writings the [[Clementine Literature|Clementine ''Homilies'']], it is suggested that Apollo was Troilus' lover rather than his father.<ref>Clementine ''Homilies'' v. xv. 145. English translation available at {{cite web|url=http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Homilies/Book-5.htm |title=Book 5 |access-date=2007-08-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928015950/http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Homilies/Book-5.htm |archive-date=2007-09-28 }}. Link checked 8/8/2007.</ref>

; '''Youthfulness''' : [[Horace]] emphasises Troilus' youth by calling him ''inpubes'' ("unhairy", i.e. pre-pubescent or, figuratively, not old enough to bear arms).<ref name="Horace">Horace, ''Odes'' ii. ix. 13–16. Latin Text with link to translation available at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0024&layout=&loc=2.9.1]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> [[Dio Chrysostom]] derides Achilles in his Trojan discourse, complaining that all that the supposed hero achieved before Homer was the capture of Troilus who was still a boy.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/11*.html#91 Dio Chrysostom ''Discourses'' (XI, 91)]</ref>

; '''Prophecies''' : The [[First Vatican Mythographer]] reports a prophecy that Troy will not fall if Troilus reaches the age of twenty and gives that as a reason for Achilles' ambush.<ref name=VM>VM (I, 120). The text is not easily available but is cited by Gantz (1993: p.602) and Sommerstein (2007: p.200, p.202) among others.</ref>  In [[Plautus]], Troilus' death is given as one of three conditions that must be met before Troy would fall.<ref>Plautus, ''[[Bacchides (play)|Bacchides]]'' 953-4. Text available in Latin with link to English translation at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0033:tln%20line=925]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref>

; '''Beauty''' : [[Ibycus]], in seeking to praise his patron, compares him to Troilus, the most beautiful of the Greeks and the Trojans.<ref>Ibycus [[Polycrates]] poem (l.41-5). Text available in Greek with parallel German translation at [http://www.gottwein.de/Grie/lyr/lyr_ibyk01.php]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> Dio Chrysostom refers to Troilus as one of many examples of different kinds of beauty.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Dio_Chrysostom/Discourses/21*.html#17 Dio Chrysostom Or.&nbsp;21.17]</ref> [[Statius]] compares a beautiful dead slave missed by his master to Troilus.<ref name="Silvae">Statius ''Silvae'' 2.6 32-3. Latin text available at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/statius/silvae2.shtml]. Checked 29 July 2007.</ref>

; '''Object of [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|pederastic]] love''' : [[Maurus Servius Honoratus|Servius]], in his scholia to the passage from [[Virgil]] discussed below, says that Achilles lures Troilus to him with a gift of doves. Troilus then dies in the Greek's embrace. [[Robert Graves]]<ref>Graves, (1955, 162.g).</ref> interprets this as evidence of the vigour of Achilles' love-making but [[Timothy Gantz]]<ref>Gantz (1993: p.602).</ref> considers that the "how or why" of Servius' version of Troilus' death is unclear.<ref name="Servius">Servius' Latin text can be seen at [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0053&layout=&loc=1.474]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> Sommerstein favours Graves's interpretation saying that murder was not a part of ancient pederastic relations and that nothing in Servius suggests an intentional killing.<ref>Sommerstein (2007: pp.200–1).</ref>

; '''Location of ambush and death''' : A number of reports have come down of Troilus' death variously mentioning water, exercising horses and the Thymbra, though they do not necessarily build into a coherent whole: the First Vatican Mythographer reports that Troilus was exercising outside Troy when Achilles attacked him;<ref name=VM /> a commentator on Ibycus says that Troilus was slain by Achilles in the Thymbrian precinct outside Troy;<ref>Gantz (1993: p.597).</ref> [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]]'s commentary on the ''Iliad'' says that Troilus was exercising his horses there;<ref>Eustathius on Homer's ''Iliad'' XXIV 257, cited by J. G. Frazer in footnote 79 to his translation of Apollodorus' ''Library''. Available at [http://www.theoi.com/Text/ApEb.html]. (Link checked 2 August 2007). Eustathius follows Scholion S-I24257a, available in Greek at [http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720014154/http://panini.northwestern.edu/AnaServer?eumaios+656934+scholion.anv|date=2011-07-20}}. (Link checked 14 August 2007).</ref> Apollodorus says that Achilles ambushed Troilus inside the temple of Thymbrian Apollo;<ref>Apollodorus ''Epitome'' (3, 32) to the ''Library''. The text in Greek with a link to the English translation is available at [https://web.archive.org/web/20071223032258/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0021:book=E:chapter=3:section=32]. Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> finally, Statius<ref name=Silvae /> reports that Troilus was speared to death as he fled around Apollo's walls.<ref>The meaning of this passage is disputed. Carlos Parada at his [http://www.maicar.com/GML/Troilus.html ''Greek Mythology Link''] takes this as a reference to the walls of Apollo's temple. (Link checked 2 August 2007.) The footnote to the Loeb translation of this passage assumes this is a reference to Apollo having built the walls of Troy and that Statius is following the Virgilian version of the story.</ref> Gantz struggles to make sense of what he sees as contradictory material, feeling that Achilles' running down of Troilus' horse makes no sense if Troilus was just fleeing to the nearby temple building. He speculates that the ambush at the well and the sacrifice in the temple could be two different versions of the story or, alternatively, that Achilles takes Troilus to the temple to sacrifice him as an insult to Apollo.<ref>Gantz (1993: p.601).</ref>

; '''Mourning''' : Trojan and, especially, Troilus' own family's mourning at his death seems to have epitomised grief at the loss of a child in classical civilization. Horace,<ref name=Horace /> [[Callimachus]]<ref>Callimachus, fragment 363 available in Loeb Edition. Cited by Cicero at the reference below.</ref> and [[Cicero]]<ref>Cicero, ''[[Tusculan Disputations]]'' I, xxxix, 93. Latin text available at [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/tusc1.shtml] Link checked 2 August 2007.</ref> all refer to Troilus in this way.