An epyllion is a comparatively short narrative poem, or a discrete episode within a longer work, that shares formal features with epic poetry while taking up themes and techniques not typical of epic proper. The term is the diminutive of the Greek word for epic poem, and though ancient Greeks rarely used it this way, modern scholars adopted it in the nineteenth century for shorter mythological narratives composed in dactylic hexameter.
Facts
Place of Origin Notable Example Defining TraitA comparatively short narrative poem in dactylic hexameters 1 Sources
1. Epyllion - Wikipedia
Etymology and modern usage section
Ancient Greek epyllion is the diminutive of epos
Lead image caption
A sleeping Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus is the topic of an elaborate ecphrasis in Catullus 64, the most famous extant epyllion (Roman copy of a 2nd-century BCE Greek original; Villa Corsini)
Characteristics section
An epyllion is, in its most basic definition, a narrative poem written in dactylic hexameters that is comparatively short.
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