The ''Thebaid'' or ''Thebais'' ( grc-gre, Θηβαΐς, ''Thēbais''), also called the Cyclic ''Thebaid'', is an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...

of uncertain authorship (see Cyclic poets) sometimes attributed by early writers to

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, for example, by the poet

Callinus Callinus ( grc, Καλλῖνος, ''Kallinos''; fl. mid-7th c. BC) was an ancient Greek elegiac poet who lived in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor in the mid-7th century BC. His poetry is representative of the genre of martial exhortation elegy ...

and the historian

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

. It told the story of the war between the brothers

Eteocles In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the relationship was revea ...

and

Polynices In Greek mythology, Polynices (also Polyneices) (; grc, Πολυνείκης, Polyneíkes, lit= manifold strife' or 'much strife) was the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia and the older brother of Eteocles (according to Sophocles' ...

, and was regarded as forming part of a

Theban Cycle __NOTOC__ The Theban Cycle ( el, Θηβαϊκὸς Κύκλος) is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which tells the mythological history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.West, M.L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments'', Loeb C ...

. Only fragments of the text survive.

Select editions and translations

Critical editions

* . * . * . * .

Translations

* . (The link is to the 1st edition of 1914.) English translation with facing Greek text; now obsolete except for its translations of the ancient quotations. * . Greek text with facing English translation

Bibliography

* .

References

8th-century BC books 8th-century BC poems Theban Cycle Ancient Greek epic poems Lost poems Homer {{poem-stub ja:テーバイド

See also

Select editions and translations

Critical editions

Translations

Bibliography

References