Catalogue and Catalogic

This chapter argues for the prevalence and importance of catalogues in the poems of the Cycle, discussed in light of several new studies of the epic catalogue. Some inset narratives discussed in chapter 1 are revisited relative to their likely catalogic format (Cypria, Nostoi). The chapter includes discussion of the Catalogue of Trojan allies mentioned by Proclus as furnishing the end of the Cypria as well as a hypothetical catalogue of the heroes in the wooden horse (Little Iliad) and catalogues recounting distribution of spoils after the sack of Troy (Little Iliad, Ilioupersis), to which several fragments may be assigned. “Catalogic” narrative passages include the recruitment of Achaean heroes in the Cypria and description of the final battle for Troy in the Little Iliad and Ilioupersis.