Cyclic poets

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Cyclic poets is a shorthand term for the early Greek epic poets, approximate contemporaries of Homer. Like him, they must be regarded as semi-legendary (or even wholly legendary). Like him, they are said in classical sources to have worked orally. In the classical period, surviving early epic poems were ascribed to these authors, just as the Iliad and Odyssey were ascribed to Homer.

A common opinion in the classical period was that Homer had lived in either the 10th century BC or 9th century BC. Syagrus and Musaeus were regarded as forerunners of Homer; the other poets listed below were generally thought of as belonging to later generations.

List of named poets

• Syagrus, said to have been the first composer of an epic about the Trojan War
• Musaeus
• Homer
• Stasinus of Cyprus
• Creophylus of Samos
• Panyassis of Halicarnassus
• Arctinus of Miletus
• Lesches of Pyrrha
• Cinaethon of Sparta
• Thestorides of Phocaea (the pseudo-Herodotean Life of Homer says that Thestorides used writing)
• Antimachus of Teos
• Eumelus of Corinth
• Agias of Troezen
• Diodorus of Erythrae
• Hegesias of Salamis (or Hegesinus)
• Cyprias of Halicarnassus
• Carcinus of Naupactus
• Prodicus of Phocaea
• Eugammon of Cyrene
• Pisinous of Lindus
• Pisander of Camirus

List of early Greek epics

The Epic Cycle

• Cypria, ascribed to Homer or Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegesinus (or Hegesias) of Salamis or Cyprias of Halicarnassus
• Iliad, nearly always ascribed to Homer
• Aethiopis, ascribed to Arctinus of Miletus
• Amazonia once ascribed to Homer (perhaps a different version of or another name for Aethiopis)
• Little Iliad, ascribed to Lesches of Pyrrha or Cinaethon of Sparta or Diodorus of Erythrae or Homer
• Sack of Troy, ascribed to Arctinus of Miletus
• Return from Troy, ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth or Agias of Troezen or Homer
• Odyssey, usually ascribed to Homer
• Telegony, ascribed to Cinaethon of Sparta; otherwise said to have been stolen from Musaeus by Eugammon of Cyrene
• Thesprotis (perhaps a different version of or another name for Telegony)

The Theban Cycle

• Oedipodea, ascribed to Cinaethon of Sparta
• Thebaid, sometimes ascribed to Homer
• Epigoni, ascribed to Antimachus of Teos or Homer
• Alcmeonis

Other epics

• Titanomachy, ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth
• Heracleia, said to have been stolen from Pisinous of Lindus by Pisander of Camirus
• Capture of Oechalia, said to have been given by Homer to Creophylus of Samos
• Naupactia, ascribed to Arctinus of Miletus or Carcinus of Naupactus
• Phocais, ascribed to Thestorides of Phocaea or Homer
• Minyas, ascribed to Prodicus of Phocaea
• Danais or Danaides
• Europia, perhaps also called Bougonia, ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth

Bibliography

• Greek epic fragments ed. and tr. Martin L. West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2003.

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