'Epic Fragments on Theseus: Hesiod, Cercops, and the Theseis’

The present paper deals with a small number of epic fragments centered on the Athenian hero Theseus which present various problems concerning their attribution, placing, and interpretation. Although an unattributed fragment on the abduction of Helen quoted by Plutarch has raised much controversy about its author and placing, a thorough investigation of the mythical version it conveys clarifies that it cannot belong to the epic Theseis, but rather reflects a later stage in the tradition of the episode, and possibly a Megarian origin. A close analysis of the context of two other fragments on Theseus’ love adventures helps in disentangling their controversial attribution either to Hesiod’s poem Aegimius or to the poet Cercops, and in positing that two different epic poems on the same subject were circulating in early Greece.