Oedipodea

For the Aeschylus trilogy of the same name, see Seven Against Thebes.

The Oedipodea (Ancient Greek: Οἰδιπόδεια) is a lost poem of the Theban cycle, a part of the Epic Cycle (Επικὸς Κύκλος). The poem was about 6,600 verses long and the authorship was credited by ancient authorities to Cinaethon (Κιναίθων), a barely known poet who lived probably in Sparta. Only three short fragments and one testimonium survived.

It told the story of the Sphinx and Oedipus and presented an alternative view of the Oedipus myth. According to Pausanias, Cinaethon states that the marriage between Oedipus and his own mother, Jocasta (= Epicasta) was childless; his children had been born from another engagement with Euryganeia (Εὐρυγανεία), daughter of Hyperphas (Ὑπέρφας). That is all we know about these two characters.

A small glimpse of Cinaethon's style survives in Plutarch's On the Pythia's Oracles 407b: "he added unnecessary pomp and drama to the oracles".

Select editions and translations

Critical editions

• Kinkel, G. (1877), Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta, vol. 1, Leipzig .
• Allen, T.W. (1912), Homeri opera. Tomus V: Hymni, Cyclus, Fragmenta, Margites, Batrachomyomachia, Vitae, Oxford, ISBN 0-19-814534-9 .
• Bernabé, A. (1988), Poetae epici Graecae, pars i, Leipzig, ISBN 978-3-598-71706-2 .
• Davies, M. (1988), Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta, Göttingen, ISBN 978-3-525-25747-0 .

Translations

• Evelyn-White, H.G. (1936), Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica, Loeb Classical Library, no. 57 (3rd rev. ed.), Cambridge, MA, ISBN 978-0-674-99063-0 . (The link is to the 1st edition of 1914.) English translation with facing Greek text; now obsolete except for its translations of the ancient quotations.
• West, M.L. (2003), Greek Epic Fragments, Loeb Classical Library, no. 497, Cambridge, MA, ISBN 978-0-674-99605-2 . Greek text with facing English translation

Bibliography

• Davies, M. (1989), Greek Epic Cycle, London, ISBN 978-1853990397 .