Epic catalogue explained

An epic catalogue is a long, detailed list of objects, places or people that is a characteristic of epic poetry.

Examples

• In the Iliad:^[1]
  • Catalogue of Ships, the most famous epic catalogue
  • Trojan Battle Order
• In the Odyssey, the catalogue of women in Hades in Book XI.
• In the Argonautica, the catalogue of heroes in Book I.
• In the Aeneid, the list of enemies the Trojans find in Etruria in Book VII. Also, the list of ships in Book X.^[2]
• In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the catalogue of Actaeon's dogs (Book I) and of trees (Book X).
• In the Völuspá, the "Dvergatal" or catalogue of dwarfs.
• In The Faerie Queene, the list of trees I.i.8-9 and the list of rivers IV.xii.
• In Paradise Lost, the list of demons in Book I.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Gaertner. Jan Felix. 2001. The Homeric Catalogues and Their Function in Epic Narrative. Hermes. 129. 3 . 298–305. 4477439.
2. Book: Christine Perkell. Reading Vergil's Aeneid: An Interpretative Guide. Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture. 23. 1999. University of Oklahoma Press. 9780806131399. 190–194.
3. Quint. David. Spring 2007. Milton's Book of Numbers: Book 1 of Paradise Lost and Its Catalogue. International Journal of the Classical Tradition. 13. 4. 528–549. 10.1007/bf02923024. 30222176. 161875103 .