West M.L. The Epic Cycle: A Commentary on the Lost Troy Epics

Oxford University Press, 2013. — ix, 334 c.: ил. — ISBN: 9780199662258.As the subtitle makes clear, this commentary does not deal with the Theban saga, or the fragments of other epic poems, such as the Heraclea of Panyassis or the Theseis. Instead, the focus is on those poems, apart from the Iliad and Odyssey, which complete the entire Trojan saga and its aftermath. Such poems include episodes ranging from Zeus’ Malthusian decision to cause the war at Troy (and Thebes) to relieve Earth of excessive human population in the Cypria — the world’s first-known prequel — to the death of Odysseus as recounted in the Telegony.Prolegomena.
What was the Epic Cycle?
Proclus' Chrestomatheias Eklogai and Apollodorus' Bibliotheke.
The formation of the Cycle.
Ascriptions.
Reflexes in archaic and classical art and literature.
The Cycle in the Hellenistic and early Roman periods.
Reconstructing the poems.
Commentaries.
Cypria.
Aethiopis.
Little Iliad.
Iliou Persis.
Nostoi.
Telegony.
Excursus: The Death of Odysseus.