Titanomachy (epic poem)

The Titanomachy (Τιτανομαχία) is a lost epic poem, which is a part of Greek mythology. It deals with the struggle that Zeus and his siblings, the Olympic gods, had in overthrowing their father Cronus and his divine generation, the Titans.

The poem was traditionally ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth, a semi-legendary bard of the Bacchiad ruling family in archaic Corinth, [The Bacchiadae were exiled by the tyrant Cypselus about 657 BCE.] who was treasured as the traditional composer of the "Prosodion", the processional anthem of Messenian independence that was performed on Delos.

Even in Antiquity many authors cited "Titanomachia" without an author's name. M.L. West [M.L. West, "'Eumelos': A Corinthian Epic Cycle?" "The Journal of Hellenic Studies" 122 (2002), pp. 109-133. The present article follows West's analysis.] in analyzing the evidence concludes that the name of Eumelos was attached to the poem as the only name available. From the very patchy evidence, it seems that "Eumelos"' account of the Titanomachy differed from the surviving account of Hesiod's "Theogony" at salient points. The eighth century BCE date for the poem is not possible; M.L. West (West 2002) ascribes a late seventh-century date as the earliest.

The "Titanomachy" was divided into at least two books. The battle of Olympians and Titans was preceded by some sort of theogony, or genealogy of the primal gods, in which, the Byzantine writer Lydus remarked, ["De mensibus" 4.71.] the author of Titanomachy placed the birth of Zeus, not in Crete, but in Lydia, which should signify on Mount Sipylus.

Notes

References

*West, M.L. "'Eumelos': A Corinthian Epic Cycle?" "The Journal of Hellenic Studies" 122 (2002), pp. 109-133. Full bibliography.