Triphiodorus and the Poetics of Imperial Greek Epic

Abstract

Triphiodorus (third century CE) wrote a 691-line hexameter epyllion, the Sack of Troy, on the ruse of the wooden horse and the capture of Troy. In this article I examine the nature of the poem’s literary program by focusing on three key passages: the proem and epilogue, and the description of Odysseus the orator after the large-scale ekphrasis of the wooden horse. The poet uses the metaphor of the horse to emphasize the speed and brevity of his composition, but also inserts key Callimachean intertexts to articulate the dual nature of his poem, both conservative and innovative.