Editing Troilus (section)

====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>