The Iliad of Homer

by Homer

fully narrated, it seems, in the Nostoi (Returns). As with the other non-Iliadic episodes just mentioned, our main source for this lost epic comes from late antiquity in the form of a condensed plot summary of the so-called Cyclic epics. These poems of the archaic period (seventh–sixth century BC) are attributed to a number of obscure poets thought to have lived later than Homer. They include the Cypria, which told of events from the wedding of Peleus through the first nine years of the Trojan War; the Aithiopis, which picks up where the Iliad ends and continues the story to the dispute over Achilleus’ armor; and the Little Iliad and Sack of Ilium, which together narrate the last days of the city and the departure of the Greeks. Although the Cyclic epics might have been designed after the composition of the Homeric poems, to fill in the gaps and provide details not narrated in them, it is also likely that earlier versions of their material existed even during the era in which the Iliad was shaped.