author
active 4th century Smyrnaeus Quintus
Best known for the Posthomerica, this Greek epic poet picked up the story of the Trojan War where Homer left off. His work preserves a rare bridge between the Iliad and the fall of Troy, making him a fascinating voice from late antiquity.
1 Audiobook
The Fall of Troy
by active 4th century Smyrnaeus Quintus
About the author
A Greek epic poet associated with Smyrna, Quintus Smyrnaeus is known almost entirely through his surviving poem, the Posthomerica. The dating of his life is uncertain: older tradition places him in the later 4th century AD, while some modern scholars have argued for an earlier date.
His Posthomerica is a long poem in 14 books that continues the Trojan War narrative after the end of Homer's Iliad, carrying the story through to the sack of Troy and the Greeks' departure. Because so much ancient literature on this stretch of the myth has been lost, the poem remains especially valuable to readers interested in how later Greek writers revisited the Homeric world.
Although little can be said with confidence about his personal life, his reputation rests on that single ambitious work and its place in the long afterlife of Trojan War storytelling. For modern listeners and readers, Quintus offers a chance to hear a classical epic voice answering Homer across the centuries.