ARCTINUS

arctinus, of miletus, one of the earliest poets of greece and contributors to the epic cycle. he flourished probably about 744 b.c. (ol. 7). his poems are lost, but an idea of them can be gained from the _chrestomathy_ written by proclus the neo-platonist of the 5th century or by a grammarian of the same name in the time of the antonines. the _aethiopis_ [greek: aithiopis], in five books, was so called from the aethiopian memnon, who became the ally of the trojans after the death of hector. as the opening shows, it took up the narrative from the close of the _iliad_. it begins with the famous deeds and death of the amazon penthesileia, and concludes with the death and burial of achilles and the dispute between ajax and odysseus for his arms. the title thus only applied to part of the poem. the _sack of troy_ ([greek: iliou perois]) gives the stories of the wooden horse, sinon, and laocoon, the capture of the city, and the departure of the greeks under the wrath of athene at the outrage of ajax on cassandra. the _little iliad_ ([greek: igias mikra]) of lesches formed the transition between the _aethiopis_ and the _sack of troy_. kinkel, _epicorum graecorum fragmenta_ (1877); welcker, _der epische cyclus_; muller, _history of the literature of ancient greece_; lang, _homer and the epic_ (1893); monro, _journal of hellenic studies_ (1883); t.w. allen in _classical quarterly_, april 1908, pp. 82 foll.