Secondary Foreteller Characters in Ancient Epic Poetry

Abstract

      Secondary characters have a large role in opening the faces of the main characters. In ancient epic poetry, the character of the main character, his courage or impotence, appears through secondary characters. Secondary characters, in many cases, help the main characters to overcome this or that difficulty or obstacle. There are cases when the secondary characters, instead of helping the main characters, on the contrary, hinder them from achieving the set goal. Secondary characters, of course, may not receive as much attention as the main characters, such as Achilles, Jason, Medea, or Aeneas, but they are often more effective than epic characters. In the article we show the function of such secondary foreteller characters in ancient epic texts. They make it easy for the main characters to overcome the difficulties of the road and offer wise advice, which will eventually lead the heroes to the desired results.