Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago

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Welcome to my new series, History Quotes, where I use historical texts to tell the stories of the past. In this first episode, I will read an excerpt from an epic poem, Quintus of Smyrna's Posthomerica, which was likely written in the 4th century AD. In it he tells of the defense of troy by an Ethiopian army and their King Memnon, the demigod son of Eos, goddess of the morning dawn.

Image Sources:

Troy: Fall of a City – Netflix Trailer
Troy Movie Trailer – Warner Bros. Entertainment

commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_greek_sanctuaries-en.svg

Historical Sources:

Quintus Smyrnaeus – The Fall of Troy Book 2
theoi.com/Text/QuintusSmyrnaeus2.html

Pausanias, Description of Greece – 1.42
theoi.com/Text/Pausanias1C.html

Manetho - scribd.com/read/369868600/Delphi-Complete-Works-of-Manetho-Illustrated#

Pliny the Elder – The Natural History – 10.37
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137%3Abook%3D10%3Achapter%3D37