Orpheus' Argonautica : language, tradition, allusion, and translation

Orpheus' Argonautica is a little-known re-telling of Jason's iconic quest to the ends of the Earth in search of the mythical Golden Fleece. Despite the fact that the narrator adopts the voice of Orpheus, the quintessential poet and mystic of ancient Greece, our author's identity and chronology are unknown. This document will demonstrate that certain features of the poem's language are not "irregular," as has been asserted in recent centuries. It will also place our poem within the literary tradition of Orpheus, exploring this mythical figure from the sixth century BCE through the fourteenth century CE. We will show the author's fluency in the intertextual game of allusion, revealing a likely familiarity with Latin literature, as well. Finally there is included an annotated English translation of the poem which should be accessible to experts and laypersons alike.