The only effort of the muse of Tryphiodorus which has come down to us is his Ἰλίου ἅλωσις, a poem consisting of 691 lines. From the small dimensions of it, it is necessarily little but a sketch. It is not, like the poem of Quintus Smyrnaeus, a continuation of the Iliad; it is an independent poem. After a brief indication of the subject, there follows a meagre recapitulation of some of the chief events since the death of Hector, given in the clumsiest and most confused manner, without any indication of the mode in which they were connected together. The proper subject of the poem begins with the account of the building of the wooden horse. Tryphiodorus describes minutely the painting and other adornments of the work, and enumerates the heroes who took their places in it; not forgetting to mention the ambrosial food with which Athene provided them. In his account of Sinon Tryphiodorus agrees more with Virgil. not with (Quintus, who represents him as mutilated by the Trojans before he would tell then the purpose of the wooden horse. The episode of Laocoon is entirely omitted. After the horse had been brought into the temple of Athene, Venus, assuming the form of an old Trojan woman, discloses to Helen the trick of the Greeks, and informs her that Menelaus is among the heroes inside. Intending to bring about their detection, she goes to the temple, and within the hearing of the warriors talks of their wives in Greece. Stifled sighs and tears escape from the heroes. Anticlus is on the point of betraying the whole scheme by speaking aloud, but Ulysses claps his hands over his mouth, and holds them so tight that he smothers him. Athene appears and sends Helen home again. This scene is the only part of the poem which has much merit. A somewhat lengthy, though otherwise tolerably good description of the scenes which ensued upon the sack and destruction of the city, is followed by a meagre notice of some of the chief special incidents.
William Smith. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. London. John Murray: printed by Spottiswoode and Co., New-Street Square and Parliament Street. In the article on Soranus, we find: "at this present time (1848)" and this date seems to reflect the dates of works cited. 1873 - probably the printing date.
