Returns
the Returns (in Greek old Νόστοι / Nóstoi , literally “returns to the hearths”, in Latin Nosti ) is the title of a lost epopee of the ancient Greece. The Old ones variously allotted it to Hégésias, Agias de Trézène, Eumélos or even Homère…
the Returns belonged to the Trojan Cycle, a whole of works which recalled the history of the Trojan War. They followed chronologically the Bag of Troy and preceded the Odyssey .
Dating
The date of composition of the Returns , and dates it at which the account was fixed in writing, are both very dubious. One generally agrees to think that work was finalized between the {{VIIe}} and sixth century BC
Composition
Only five lines and half of the original poem arrived to us. The only complete summary of the work which one lays out comes from the Chrestomathie allotted to Proclos, philosopher of the {{Ve}} century a. J. - C. the other sources remain very fragmentary.
The poem is divided into five books written in Hexamètres dactylic, telling the returns towards their hearths of the Greek heroes after the Trojan War.
Contents of the poem
The poem begins whereas the Greeks are ready to install to return to Greece. But Athéna is courroucée by their impious control at the time of the catch of Troy. Agamemnon differs its departure, hoping for an appeasing the goddess; Diomède and Nestor embarks immediately and reaches Greece without encumbers; Ménélas makes in the same way but a storm ruins it in Egypt, where there remains blocked several years. Other Greeks, like the soothsayer Calchas, go by ground to Colophon, where Calchas dies and is incinerated.
As Agamemnon is on the point of embarking, the shade of Achille appears to him and its destiny reveals to him. Agamemnon makes a sacrifice and installs despite everything. Néoptolème is visited by his/her grandmother, the Néréide Thétis, which advises to him to await and offer more sacrifices to the gods. Zeus sends a storm on the naves of Ajax small the on the request for Athéna, and this one perishes at sea, in the south of the Eubée. Néoptolème takes the advice of Thétis and returns by ground; in Thrace, it meets Ulysses which came by sea. Néoptolème reaches its fatherland healthy and except, even if Phœnix dies on the way, and he is recognized by his grandfather Pélée.
Agamemnon arrives in its palate where it is assassinated by its wife Clytemnestre, helped of his/her lover Égisthe. Later, Oreste (wire of Agamemnon and Clytemnestre) avenges his/her father by killing the persons in charge of his death. Ménélas returns finally from Egypt. This last part, known under the name of Orestie , is also told in the Odyssey (songs III and IV) by Nestor and Ménélas; it was used as a basis for the tragic trilogy of Eschyle, Orestie .
At the end of the Returns , the only Greek hero who still wanders is Ulysses. Its personal “return” constitutes the subject of the Odyssey .
See too
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