Theban Cycle


The Theban Cycle is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which related the mythical history of the Boeotian city of Thebes. They were composed in dactylic hexameter verse and were probably written down between 750 and 500 BC.
The 9th-century AD scholar and clergyman Photius, in his Bibliotheca, considered the Theban Cycle part of the Epic Cycle; however, modern scholars normally do not.
The stories in the Theban Cycle were traditional ones: the two Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, display knowledge of many of them. The most famous stories in the Cycle were those of Oedipus and of the "Seven against Thebes", both of which were heavily drawn on by later writers of Greek tragedy.
The epics of the Theban Cycle were as follows:

Critical editions