Epic Cycle reading list

Introduction | Phase 1 | Phase 2 | Phase 3

Even though we tend to think of the Iliad as the full account of the war between Greeks and Trojans, Homer's epic takes place in the tenth, and last, year of the siege — in fact, only on about 50 days thereof. Before that, there's a lost decade of events. Likewise, once the war is over, other equally important events take place.

In reality, the Iliad and Odyssey are two massive "episodes" of an "expanded universe," or "box set," called the Epic Cycle, which fills in everything from the beginning of the world to the end of the age of heroes. It was composed to "bridge" the gaps in Homer's works, so that a reader could follow the story from start to finish without missing a beat.

The prequel — The Cypria — explains why the war started (the Judgment of Paris) and the first nine years of fighting. The interstitial sequels (Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliou Persis) fill the gap between the funeral of Hector (end of the Iliad), the fall of Troy, the death of Achilles, and the Wooden Horse. The Nostoi tell the stories of the other Greek heroes (like Agamemnon and Menelaus) returning home, which happens simultaneously with the Odyssey. And, in the final years, we're told how the life of Odysseus ends.

Below is a list that contemplates the events related to the Iliad and the Odyssey (the Epic Cycle) in chronological order, which you may follow at your leisure. Surely there are other suggested reading lists out there; this is my own.

Here is a brief summary of the books involved. I discuss them individually further down the page.

PHASE I: The Beginning (the lost decade)

The Cypria (fragments/summary): The wedding of Peleus & Thetis, the Judgment of Paris, and the first 9 years of the siege.
Iphigenia at Aulis (Euripides): The Greek fleet is gathered and the sacrifice occurs.

PHASE II: The 10th and final year of the Trojan War

The Iliad (Homer) — Pt 1, up to Book 10: Covers a few weeks of the tenth, and final, year of the war (Achilles's wrath).
Rhesus (Euripides): The night raid (Doloneia) that takes place during Book 10 of the Iliad.
The Iliad (Homer, cont.) — Pt 2: From Book 11 to the death of Hector and the meeting of Achilles and Priam at the end.
The Aethiopis (fragments/summary): Immediately follows the Iliad. Arrival of the Amazons, death of Penthesilea, Memnon, and Achilles.
Metamorphoses (Ovid - Book XII): a descriptive, Roman-era account of the death of Achilles that occurs in the Aethiopis.
Ajax (Sophocles): The fallout of Achilles's death; the contest for the armor, Ajax's sad end. Troy still stands.
Philoctetes (Sophocles): To win the war, the Greeks must go back to Lemnos to get the bow of Heracles.
The Aeneid (Virgil - Book II): The finale of the war. The Wooden Horse, the death of King Priam, the fall and destruction of Troy, and the flight of Aeneas.

PHASE III: The Morning After (The Sack of Troy)

The Trojan Women (Euripides): The city has fallen; the women are divided as spoils.
Hecuba (Euripides): The Greeks are stopped at the Thracian Chersonese on their way home; Polyxena sacrificed.

PHASE IV: Nostoi (The Returns)

Helen (Euripides): The "alternate" return of Menelaus via Egypt.
The Odyssey - Pt 1 (Homer): The 10-year journey of Odysseus until the Cyclops.
Cyclops (Euripides): Odysseus encounters Polyphemus on his way home.
The Odyssey - Pt 2 (Homer, cont.): The remaining of the journey to Ithaca.

PHASE V: The House of Atreus

While Odysseus is at sea, these events happen in Mycenae/Argos (mainland Greece):

Agamemnon (Aeschylus): The King returns and is murdered.
Electra (Sophocles + Euripides): Years later, Electra waits for Orestes.
The Libation Bearers (Aeschylus): The murder of Clytemnestra.
Orestes (Euripides): The immediate aftermath of the matricide.
The Eumenides (Aeschylus): The trial of Orestes.

PHASE VI: The Final Years

Andromache (Euripides): The life of Hector’s widow as a slave in Greece years later.
Iphigenia in Tauris (Euripides): Orestes finds his sister in a distant land.
The Telegony (summary): The final death of Odysseus at the hands of his son.

1 - Prelude to the War

The Cypria | Iphigenia at Aulis

The first phase gives us the cosmic origins for the war, in "The Cypria"; and explores the moral cost of war in Euripides's play, "Iphigenia at Aulis."

The Cypria

This is the essential "prequel" to the Iliad. It was originally an epic poem consisting of 11 books composed in dactylic hexameter. While the full text is lost, and only fragments remain, we can still have a taste of it with the summary provided by Proclus (a late-antique scholar who had access to the great libraries, like Alexandria and Athens, before the original scrolls of the Epic Cycle disappeared) in his "Chrestomathy" (the χρηστομάθεια, or "useful for learning", was essentially a "Student’s Guide to Literature," a handbook that provided summaries of the most important Greek poems for students who didn't have the time or the resources to read the massive, multi-volume original epics).

The Cypria was roughly half the length of the Odyssey. It covered a staggering amount of narrative ground — spanning the roughly twenty years from the origins of the war to the beginning of the Iliad.

It explains the reasons behind the war, moving from cosmic planning to the tedious decade of stalemate on the Trojan shores. First, Zeus decides to relieve the overpopulated Earth through a great war; then Achilles's parents (the mortal Peleus and the nereid Thetis) marry, and, at the wedding, the Eris (the Goddess of Discord) throws a "Golden Apple" for the fairest goddess at the party. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite vie for the title and seek the Judgment of Paris (a Trojan shepherd who later turns out to be a prince). Because Aphrodite promises him the fairest mortal on Earth, she wins the contest, and Helen is abducted by Paris from Sparta to Troy. Incensed, her husband Menelaus seeks the help of his brother, Agamemnon, leader of the Greek forces, who amasses the nation's army to get the princess back.

The story establishes the divine machinery behind the tragedy, and covers the first decade before the war even starts, including the Greeks' mistaken landing in Teuthrania (a city-state named after King Teuthras, located in Mysia) and the frustrating situation of the Greek fleet as they are stuck at Aulis due to lack of wind, before they can finally arrive at the true Troy.

Iphigenia at Aulis (Euripides)

The Greek fleet is gathered at the port of Aulis, but the goddess Artemis, angry at Agamemnon for killing one of her sacred deers, has stilled the winds, preventing them from sailing to Troy. To appease the Goddess of the Hunt, King Agamemnon is forced to trick his own daughter, Iphigenia, into coming to the camp under the guise of a marriage to Achilles, only to sacrifice her.

In this emotional "point of no return," Agamemnon faces the ultimate moral dilemma: sacrifice his own daughter, Iphigenia, to appease the goddess Artemis, or abandon the war. This play defines Agamemnon’s character and sets up the generational curse and motivation for the hatred of his wife, Clytemnestra, and explains her future betrayal. It shows that the war was paid for in blood before it even began.

2 - The Tenth Year of the Trojan War

PHASE II: The 10th Year (The War)
Homer, The Iliad: Covers only a few weeks of the final year (Achilles' wrath).

Euripides, Rhesus: A night raid that takes place during the timeline of the Iliad.

The Aethiopis (Fragments/Summary): Immediately follows the Iliad. Death of Penthesilea, Memnon, and Achilles.

Sophocles, Ajax: The fallout of Achilles' death; the contest for the armor and Ajax's suicide.

Sophocles, Philoctetes: The Greeks must go back to Lemnos to get the bow of Heracles.

Ovid, Metamorphoses (Book XII): Contains the death of Achilles.

Virgil, The Aeneid (Book II): The fall of Troy, the Wooden Horse, and the flight of Aeneas.

The Iliad (Homer)

Covers only a few weeks of the final year (Achilles' wrath).