Section 1: THE GRECO-ROMAN EPICS

HEROIC LITERATURE COURSE | The Greco-Roman Epic Cycle

As I talked about in the introductory episode, I've chosen to focus only on human-centered epics/sagas/romances which concern the deeds of heroes. That means excluding all sources about myth, the gods, and any accounts of heroes which were not preserved in epic form.

For example, the deeds of Heracles were recounted in Panyassis’ Heracleia (500 BC), but this epic poem, once held in equal with Homer’s epics, is sadly lost. Hercules' story, and the stories of other heroes like Theseus and Perseus, survive in other sources like Apollodorus' Library, but these are not narrative epics, so I will not cover them. I've included such material in the extra reading section.

I've chosen to cover all four of the surviving Greek/Roman epics pertaining to the Trojan epic cycle. The original Greek “epic cycle” covered the entirety of the Trojan War, from its start to the return home of the Greek heroes. The other texts in the Epic Cycle (composed circa 800-600 BC) were not attributed to Homer, were much shorter in length, and are now all lost. We only know about them through surviving summaries and fragments. They are as follows: