敍事詩「キュプリア」考

Abstract

A fragment from the " Cypria ", quoted by Athenaeus, tells of the birth of Helen by Zeus and Nemesis. The fact that the cult of Nemesis had long existed in Attica points to the Attic origin of the Nemesis-version, while the Leda-legend is supposed to have originated in Sparta. There is, on the other hand, good reason to assume that for the poet of the " Cypria ", this Nemesis-legend has a strongly ethical meaning. This sense of the word, as conceived by the poet, can be regarded as a direct development of the Hesiodic conception of " nemesis". The Hesiodic influence on the " Cypria " is further confirmed by the observation of several features which the poem obviously owes to Boeotian poetry. The long tradition of the Greek Epic which had started in the Mycenaean Age reaches its final stage of development in late sixth century Attica, as implied by the so-called "Pisistratean redaction". The present writer thus assumes that most of the cyclic poems were composed during (or shortly before and after) this period. The " morphological " study-to borrow the term of W. Schadewaldt-of the cyclic poems, though their lesser artistic merit must be admitted, is expected to contribute to Homeric research by throwing some light on the making of Greek epic poetry.