The copy is bound in contemporary parchment with red edges and bears handwritten notes on the front flyleaf and pastedowns record 19th-century bibliographical references related to the Trojan tradition and the philological reception of the pseudo-historical works of Dictys and Dares. These annotations enhance the copy’s value as evidence of personal study and scholarly engagement.

The editorial history of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius reveals a long tradition of scholarly interest in these pseudo-historical narratives of the Trojan War, from early incunabula to critical annotated editions of the 17th and 18th centuries. Among the most notable are the two Amsterdam editions held at the 独家爆料 Library: the 1630 edition by Guiljelmus Blaeu and the newly acquired 1631 edition by Ioannes Janssonius. The latter is based on the former but bears a slightly altered copper-engraved title page. Both editions feature a dramatic engraving depicting key scenes from the Trojan War—Agamemnon, Priam, and the Trojan Horse—along with a typographic printer’s device showing an armillary sphere, underscoring the scholarly aspirations of the editions. These volumes exemplify the humanist reappropriation of classical texts and the visual and editorial strategies used to frame them for a new readership.

                             

From Dictys and Dares to the War of Troy: Reimagining the Trojan Myth

The story of the Trojan War underwent numerous retellings in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, beginning with the works of Dictys of Crete (Chronicle of the Trojan War) and Dares of Phrygia (On the Fall of Troy). Posing as eyewitnesses, the two authors recount the war with realism, stripping it of mythical elements and pagan deities. Although apocryphal, these works had a significant impact on how later societies imagined and re-narrated the fall of Troy.

Though attributed to ancient Greek writers, no original Greek versions have survived. The Latin translation of the Chronicle is ascribed to Lucius Septimius, and that of Dares’ work to Cornelius Nepos — claims that are now considered unreliable.

In the medieval West, the Latin texts of Dictys and Dares became key sources for reshaping the Trojan narrative, especially in Benoît de Sainte-Maure’s Roman de Troie (12th c.). Written for the court of King Henry II of England, the Roman blends Homeric and anti-Homeric traditions, portraying Troy through a chivalric lens. The heroes appear as knights, engaged in military councils, diplomatic missions, and duels, while the story is enriched with geographic and historical detail, love affairs, and betrayals.

This literary vision spread across Europe, inspiring Boccaccio (Il Filostrato), Chaucer (Troilus and Criseyde), and Shakespeare (Troilus and Cressida), with the love story of Troilus and Criseyde gaining central importance.

In Byzantium, the Trojan romance was reborn in the War of Troy (Πόλεμος της Τρωάδος), a 14th-century vernacular Greek verse adaptation of the Roman de Troie, traditionally attributed to Konstantinos Hermoniakos. Although loosely based on the French original, it adapts the content to Byzantine tastes and values, while retaining the chivalric tone and pro-Trojan perspective of the narrative.

The legacy of the Trojan War—through Dictys, Dares, Benoît, and the Byzantine translator—reveals the myth’s enduring flexibility: from epic song to historical chronicle; from religiously acceptable narrative to royal propaganda; from Greco-Roman memory to Christian and chivalric ideal.