“An age of genealogy”: The Auctoritas of Dares Phrygius and Dictys Cretensis and Its Influence on Narratives of Trojan Ethnogenesis in Late Medieval Europe
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2014-09-16
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Abstract
In the twelfth through fourteenth centuries, the Trojan War became an increasingly popular time for many elite
European families to locate their founding ancestors; Trojan origins provided the justification for the rule of these
influential families. This sudden surge in Trojan ethnogenesis required medieval authors to use certain, authoritative
primary sources: these sources were the Ephemeris Belli Troiani of Dictys Cretensis and the De Excidio Troiae
Historia of Dares Phrygius, supposed eyewitness accounts to the events of the Trojan War. In this paper I suggest
that the writers of the Ephemeris and the De Excidio called upon ancient forms of historical writing as well as a
deliberately sparse style in order to present their works as entirely authentic. I explore the ways in which medieval
writers such as Geoffrey of Monmouth and the anonymous Gawain poet employed these primary sources to
construct and criticize, respectively, the use of Trojan ethnogenesis to promote the idea of translatio imperii.
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the
Department of Latin at Bryn Mawr College
May