The Little Iliad (Greek: Ἰλιὰς μικρά, Ilias mikra; Latin: Ilias parva) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. It was one of the Epic Cycle, that is, the "Trojan" cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic verse. The story of the Little Iliad comes chronologically after that of the Aithiopis, and is followed by that of the Iliou persis ("Sack of Troy"). The Little Iliad was attributed by ancient writers to Lesches, a native of either Pyrrha or Mytilene on Lesbos. The poem comprised four books of verse in dactylic hexameter. The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, which retells in a continuous narrative the life and works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. ... At the moment this page contains a list of links. ... In mathematics, see epic morphism. ... The Trojan War was a war waged, according to legend, against the city of Troy in Asia Minor by the armies of the Acheans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of Helen of Sparta by Paris of Troy. ... The Aithiopis (Greek: Αἰθιοπίς; Latin: Aethiopis) is a lost epic of ancient Greek literature. ... The Iliou persis (English: Sack of Ilion; Greek: Ἰλίου πέρσις; also known as Iliupersis, esp. ... Lesches (Lescheos in Pausanias x. ... This city is not ot be confused with a village in the island of Samos named Mytilinii Mytilene (Μυτιλήνη in Greek) is the capital city of Lesbos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. ... Lesbos () is a prefecture of Greece consisting of a number of islands in the Aegean Sea, and part of the North Aegean periphery subdivision. ... Dactylic hexameter is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme. ...

Date

The Little Iliad was probably composed in the latter half of the seventh century BCE, but there is much uncertainty. Ancient sources date Lesches to the seventh century; but it is typical for ancient writers to place archaic literary authors earlier than they actually lived (sometimes centuries earlier).

Content

The Little Iliad is one of the better-attested epics in the Epic Cycle: nearly thirty lines of the original text survive. Nevertheless, we are almost entirely dependent on a summary of the Cyclic epics contained in the Chrestomatheia (see also chrestomathy) attributed to the 5th-century CE philosopher Proklos Diadochos. Numerous other references give indications of the poem's storyline. Chrestomathy (Greek, from the words khrestos, useful, and mathein, to know) is a selection of linguistic writings which can help you to learn a language. ... Proclus Lycaeus (February 8, 412 – April 17, 487), surnamed The Successor (Greek Πρόκλος ὁ Διάδοχος Próklos ho Diádokhos), was a Greek Neoplatonist philosopher. ...

The poem opens with the judgment of Achilleus' arms, which are to be awarded to the greatest Greek hero: the contest is between Aias and Odysseus, who recovered Achilleus' body in battle. The arms are awarded to Odysseus, and Aias goes insane. Later, in shame, he commits suicide. For other uses, see Achilles (disambiguation). ... Aias (Greek: Αίας: Of the Earth), or Ajax, son of Telamon, king of Salamis, a legendary hero of ancient Greece. ... It has been suggested that Ulysses Bow be merged into this article or section. ...

Odysseus captures the Trojan prophet Helenos, who makes prophecies concerning the preconditions for the Greeks' conquest of Troy. In accordance with the prophecies, Odysseus and Diomedes go to Lemnos to bring back the hero Philoktetes, who then fights and kills Paris; after Paris' death, his wife Helen marries Deiphobos. Odysseus also brings Achilleus' son Neoptolemos to Troy: Odysseus gives him Achilleus' armour, and Achilleus' ghost appears to him. When the Trojan ally Eurypylos dominates the field in battle, Neoptolemos kills him. Odysseus also goes into Troy disguised as a beggar, where Helen recognises him but keeps his secret; he returns safely, killing some Trojans on the way, with the Palladion. In Greek mythology, Helenus was the son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. ... In Greek mythology, Diomêdês (god-like cunning) was the son of Tydeus and Deipyle and a favored hero of Athena. ... Lemnos (mod. ... In Greek mythology, Philoctetes (also Philoktêtês or Philocthetes) was the son of King Poeas of Meliboea in Thessaly. ... Paris (Greek: Πάρις; also known as Alexander, c. ... Helen of Troy by Evelyn de Morgan Helen was the wife of Menelaus and reputed to be the most beautiful woman in the world, and her abduction by Paris brought about the Trojan War. ... In Greek mythology, Deiphobus was a son of Priam and Hecuba. ... In Greek mythology, Neoptolemus, also Neoptólemos or Pyrrhus, was the son of Achilles. ... In Greek mythology, Eurypylus referred to three different people. ... A Roman copy of a Greek statue of Pallas. ...

On the goddess Athena's initiative, the Greek warrior Epeios builds the wooden horse, and the Greeks place their best warriors inside it, burn their camp, and withdraw to the nearby island Tenedos. The Trojans, believing that the Greeks have departed for good, breach a section of their city wall to bring the horse inside, and celebrate their apparent victory. Athena from the east pediment of the Afea temple in Aegina After a sculpture of Athena at the Louvre. ... There were two characters named Epeius in Greek mythology. ... Gökçeada and Bozcaada are two islands in the Aegean Sea which are part of Canakkale Province in Turkey. ...

The emergence of the heroes from the horse, and the Greeks' destruction of Troy, seem not to be recounted in the Little Iliad, but are left for the Iliou persis; however, a substantial fragment describes how Neoptolemos takes Hektor's wife Andromache captive and kills his baby son Astyanax by throwing him from the walls of the city. The Iliou persis (English: Sack of Ilion; Greek: Ἰλίου πέρσις; also known as Iliupersis, esp. ... In Greek mythology, Hector (holding fast), or Hektor, was a Trojan prince and one of the greatest fighters in the Trojan War, equal to Ajax and surpassed only by Achilles. ... Andromache grieves the loss of Hector In Greek mythology, Andromache was the wife of Hector and daughter of Eetion, sister to Podes. ... In Greek mythology, Astyanax (Greek for king of the city) was the son of Hector and Andromache. ...

Editions

• Online editions (English translation):
  • Fragments of the Little Iliad translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914 (public domain)
  • Fragments of complete Epic Cycle translated by H.G. Evelyn-White, 1914; Project Gutenberg edition
  • Proklos' summary of the Epic Cycle translated by Gregory Nagy
• Print editions (Greek):
  • A. Bernabé 1987, Poetarum epicorum Graecorum testimonia et fragmenta pt. 1 (Leipzig: Teubner)
  • M. Davies 1988, Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht)
• Print editions (Greek with English translation):
  • M.L. West 2003, Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press)