Only the works of Homer and Hesiod have survived from the early years of the Greek literature, but there is strong evidence that others existed as well. Their writing is based on formulae that follow the tradition of rhapsodies. These works provide us with information regarding that tradition: in the Odyssey the recitations of Phoemius and Demodocus are mentioned, whereas the participation of Hesiod in a poetic competition gives evidence to an important poetic activity.

Obviously, many of the mythological traditions were formed at the beginning of the Archaic period into a cycle, which began with the creation of the world, continued with the battle of Titans and ended in the Theban myths and in the events of the Trojan war. These epics were called Cyclic and probably this term originally also included the Homeric epics. However, after Aristotle the distincion was clear, and in particular during late antiquity the Cyclic epics were considered inferior, conventional and without interest. We mainly draw information about their number and context from Proclus, a writer of the 5th century A.D. According to him the Trojan cycle comprised the following epics: the Cypria that narrated events from the judgement of Paris to the arrival of the Achaeans in Troy, the Iliad, the Aethiopis, which presented the deeds of Ajax,, the Little Iliad, the Iliu Persis that narrated the sack of Troy up to the sacrifice of Polyxena, the Nostoi (returns) whose theme was the adventurous homeward voyages of the leaders from Troia, the Odyssey and the Telegonia that ended the cycle with the unexpected marriages of Telegonus -son of Odysseus (Ulysses) to Penelope and Telemachus to Circe. These epics are based on earlier myths, but it is certain that they were composed after the Iliad and the Odyssey, during the 7th or the 6th century B.C. Their significance for posterior Greek literature was enormous, since many tragedies were inspired by them. We assume that their effect on lyric poetry and on other arts was similar.

Among the epics that belonged to other cycles worth mentioning are the Oedipodia, the Thebais and the Epigoni from the Thebaic cycles, whereas a Titanomachia and a patchwork of stories with the title Korinthiaka, are attributed to Eumelus of Corinth, who, it is assumed, lived at the end of the 8th century B.C. A different cycle was dedicated to the labours of Heracles. The earliest epic of this cycle is considered to be the Capture of Oechalia, which occasionaly was attributed to Homer or Creophylus. Also Peisander from Rhodes and Panyassis from Halicarnassus (beginning of the 5th century B.C.). Finally, Margites, a mock-epic that was composed in the 7th or the 6th century B.C. was attributed -during antiquity- to Homer. As for the popular -in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance- a parody of Iliad with the title Batrachomyomachia (Battle of the Frogs and the Mice), thus belonged, most probably, to the Hellenistic period.