List of epic poems
This is a list of epic poems. == Ancient epics (to AD 500) == === Before the 8th century BC === Epic of Gilgamesh (Mesopotamian religion) Epic of Lugalbanda (including Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave and Lugalbanda and the Anzud Bird, Mesopotamian religion) Epic of Enmerkar (including Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and Enmerkar and En-suhgir-ana, Mesopotamian religion) Atrahasis (Mesopotamian religion) Enuma Elish (Babylonian religion) The Descent of Inanna into the Underworld (Mesopotamian religion) Legend of Keret (Ugaritic religion) === 8th to 6th centuries BC === Iliad, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology) Odyssey, ascribed to Homer (Greek mythology) Works and Days, composed by Hesiod (Greek mythology) Theogony, composed by Hesiod (Greek mythology) Shield of Heracles, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology) Catalogue of Women, ascribed to Hesiod (Greek mythology; only fragments survive) Cypria, Aethiopis, Little Iliad, Iliupersis, Nostoi and Telegony, forming the so-called Epic Cycle (only fragments survive) Oedipodea, Thebaid, Epigoni and Alcmeonis, forming the so-called Theban Cycle (only fragments survive) A series of poems ascribed to Hesiod during antiquity (of which only fragments survive): Aegimius (alternatively ascribed to Cercops of Miletus), Astronomia, Descent of Perithous, Idaean Dactyls (almost completely lost), Megala Erga, Megalai Ehoiai, Melampodia and Wedding of Ceyx Capture of Oechalia, ascribed to Homer or Creophylus of Samos during antiquity (only a fragment survives) Phocais, ascribed to Homer during antiquity (only a fragment survives) Titanomachy ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth (only a fragment survives) Danais (written by one of the cyclic poets and from which the Danaid tetralogy of Aeschylus draws its material), Minyas and Naupactia (almost completely lost) === 5th to 4th centuries BC === Heracleia, tells of the labors of Heracles, almost completely lost, written by Panyassis (Greek mythology) Mahābhārata, ascribed to Veda Vyasa (Indian religion) Ramayana, ascribed to Valmiki (Indian religion) === 3rd century BC === Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes (Greek mythology) Batrachomyomachia, ascribed to Homer in antiquity (Parodic epic) === 2nd century BC === Annales by Ennius (Roman history; only fragments survive) === 1st century BC === De rerum natura by Lucretius (natural philosophy) Georgics by Virgil (didactic poem) Aeneid by Virgil (Roman religion) === 1st century AD === Metamorphoses by Ovid (Greek and Roman mythology) Pharsalia by Lucan (Roman history; unfinished) Argonautica by Gaius Valerius Flaccus (Roman poet, Greek mythology; incomplete) Punica by Silius Italicus (Roman history) Thebaid and Achilleid by Statius (Roman poet, Greek mythology; latter poem incomplete) === 2nd century === Buddhacarita by Aśvaghoṣa (Indian epic poetry) Halieutica by Oppian (Greek didactic on fishing) === 3rd to 4th centuries === Posthomerica by Quintus of Smyrna (Greek mythology) The Sack of Troy by Triphiodorus (Greek mythology) The Vision of Dorotheus by Dorotheus (Christian Epic) Cento Vergilianus de laudibus Christi by Faltonia Betitia Proba === 4th century === Kumārasambhava by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry) Raghuvaṃśa by Kālidāsa (Indian epic poetry) Blemyomachia (Greek, only fragments survive) De raptu Proserpinae by Claudian (Roman poet, Greek mythology; incomplete) Evangeliorum Libri Quattuor by Juvencus (Gospel Epic) Gigantomachy by Claudian (Greek Mythology; incomplete) Orphic Argonautica, ascribed to Orpheus (Greek mythology) === 5th century === Argonautica Orphica by Anonymous (Greek mythology) Carmen Paschale by Sedulius (Gospel Epic) Paraphrasis Evangelii Sancti Ionhannis by Nonnus (Biblical Paraphrase) Dionysiaca by Nonnus (Greek mythology) Mahavamsa first composed by Mahānāma (Pali epic) Psychomachia by Prudentius (Christian allegory) Yadegar-e Zariran (Zoroastrian Middle Persian epic) Cilappatikāram by Iḷaṅkō Aṭikaḷ (Tamil epic) Manimekalai by Kulavāṇikaṉ Seethalai Sataṉar (Tamil buddhist epic) == Medieval epics (500–1500) == === 6th century === De Actibus Apostolorum by Arator, epic retelling of the Acts of the Apostles Iohannis by Corippus, Latin epic on the Byzantine conquest of North Africa The Abduction of Helen by Colluthus, Greek mythology Kar-Namag i Ardashir i Pabagan, This epic narrates the story of Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanid dynasty, written in Middle Persian Vita Sancti Martini by Venantius Fortunatus, on the life of St Martin of Tours === 7th century === Táin Bó Cúailnge (Old Irish) Bhaṭṭikāvya, Sanskrit courtly epic based on the Rāmāyaṇa and the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini Kiratarjuniya by Bharavi, Sanskrit epic based on an episode in the Mahabharata Shishupala Vadha by Magha, Sanskrit epic based on another episode in the Mahabharata === 8th to 10th centuries === Beowulf (Old English) Waldere, Old English version of the story told in Waltharius (below), known only as a brief fragment Alpamysh, a Turkic epic Karolus magnus et Leo papa (Carolingian, Latin, before 814) Daredevils of Sassoun (Armenian) Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit) "Stories of the Lord", based on earlier sources Lay of Hildebrand and Muspilli (Old High German, c. 870) Kakawin Ramayana, Javanese version of the Ramayana (c.