Epic Cycle timeline

Estimates of the ages, births, and deaths of prominent characters in the Epic Cycle

Events in the Epic Cycle

• Odysseus and his family are indicated in blue
• The House of Atreus and their Spartan relatives in red and pink
• Those associated with Achilles in yellow and orange

• Members of the Trojan royal family are shown in green

Who's who in the Epic Cycle

The Iliad begins ~9 years into the fighting and ends before Troy falls

Journey of Odysseus

Abduction of Helen of Sparta

Legend

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Paris takes Helen of Sparta to Troy

Read more on the Iliad

The Iliad

Receiving the wind bag from Aeolus

Read more on the leadup to the fall of Troy

Calypso

Agamemnon invokes the Oath of Tyndareus on his brother Menelaus’ behalf

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Campaign in Troy

Read more on the fall of Troy

In Ithaca, Odysseus is believed lost at sea and suitors seeking to marry Penelope and take the throne swarm the palace. Penelope resists through stalling and trickery for years before being found out, and pressure on her to remarry increases.

Guest of the Phaeacians

Raid of Ismarus

Ithaca (Home)

the Laestrygonian giants

Odysseus courts and marries Penelope with the assistance of her uncle Tyndareus in thanks for Odysseus solving his dilemma with Helen’s suitors.

The Achaeans decimate the lands around Troy but remain unable to break through the city walls, while the Trojans call up numerous allies to their defense. The war becomes a protracted siege.

the Lotus Eaters

Circe's Isle

Wedding of Thetis and Peleus and the Judgement of Paris

Polyphemus

Reluctant to leave his family, Odysseus goes to great lengths to dodge the draft he himself implemented before he’s finally conscripted.

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the cattle of the Sun

the Sirens

Achilles’ mother Thetis disguises him as a girl, knowing that if he goes to war he is fated to die there

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Despite her efforts, Achilles sails for Troy

Scylla

Courting of Helen of Sparta and the Oath of Tyndareus

Charybdis

(First) Abduction of Helen of Sparta

Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia so the Greeks can sail to war

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the Underworld and the Prophet

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Diplomacy fails and the Trojan War begins

-18

-17

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-13

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-07

-06

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-02

-01

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19

20

years before and after the start of the Trojan War

† Ajax the Lesser

† 108 Suitors

† the last of Odysseus' crew

† Patroclus

† Aegisthus

Birth of Neoptolemus (Pyrrhus)

Helen: 24

Helen: 13

Helen: 7

† Hector, crown prince of Troy

† Agamemnon (~42)

† Clytemnestra

Odysseus: 50*

Odysseus: 44

† Achilles (~26)

† Cassandra of Troy

Menelaus: 26

Birth of Achilles

Orestes: 20

Penelope: 42

Menelaus: 15

† Ajax the Greater

Odysseus: 19

Odysseus: 30

• Iphigenia † d. 13
• Electra: 17
• Orestes: 14
• Chrysothemis: 12

Children of Agamemnon

Telemachus: 19

† Paris of Troy

Menelaus: 46

Penelope: 23

Birth of Telemachus

Helen: 44

† All but one ship of Odysseus' crew

Achilles: 17

*possibly ~45 biologically due to slowed aging on Calypso's island

Odysseus: 40

Agamemnon: 31

Helen: 35

† Sacrifice of Iphigenia (13)

Menelaus: 37

Agamemnon: 41

Neoptolemus: 13

Soon after the deaths of Hector and Patroclus, Achilles is killed by Paris, possibly treacherously, and Ajax the Greater commits suicide after Athena drives him mad over a dispute over Achilles’ armor. Having lost some of their best champions, the seer Calchas councils the Achaeans to retrieve the bow of Hercules to bring about the fall of Troy. The bow had been in the possession of the archer Philoctates, whom Odysseus had marooned on Lemnos after convincing the Achaeans the former’s infected snakebite was divine retribution. However, when Diomedes and/or Odysseus (sometimes with Achilles’ son Neoptolemus) go to Lemnos to retrieve the bow, they are shocked to find Philoctates still alive. With Athena’s intervention, they reconcile and convince him to rejoin the war. Philoctates shoots and kills Paris, and Paris’ “widow” Helen is unwillingly married to his brother Deiphobus. Odysseus and Diomedes infiltrate Troy for reconnaissance, Odysseus disguised as a battered beggar. He is able to approach the royal family of Troy, including Helen, who recognizes him, but he refuses to acknowledge her until she contrives to catch him alone under the guise of treating his wounds. She tells him her loyalty is to the Greeks and she wants Menelaus to take her home. The Trojan prince and seer Helenus reveals the conditions the Greeks must fulfill to take Troy. Sources differ as to whether Odysseus and Diomedes captured him outside the city or within Troy’s walls and tortured him for information, or if Helenus betrayed Troy and willingly approached them, foreseeing the futility of resistance. But nonetheless he names the conditions:

• Retrieve the bones of Pelops
• Recruit Achilles’ son Neoptolemus to the war (sometimes this council is originally given by Calchas and he is recruited along with Philoctates’ bow)
• Take the wooden Palladium statue from Athena’s temple in Troy

Odysseus and Diomedes steal the Palladium and kill many Trojans on their way out of the city and the Achaeans retrieve the bones of Pelops and recruit Achilles’ son Neoptolemus to the war.

Odysseus and Athena plot Troy’s fall with the Trojan Horse. The Achaeans burn their camp and sail out of sight, leaving only an enormous wooden horse as a token of “surrender,” but it is filled with Greek soldiers. Some Trojans like Laocoon are suspicious and warn against accepting the Horse, but Greek-allied gods send snakes to devour him, furthering the Trojan’s belief that the Horse is sacred. Still, the cursed Trojan prophet and priestess Cassandra attempts to destroy it with an axe and torch, alarming the Greeks, who do not understand how she could have discovered their plans so quickly. But to their relief she is shut down and the Horse is brought inside the city walls. That night, after the Trojans celebrate their victory, the Achaean forces emerge to sack Troy. Menelaus and Odysseus kill Deiphobus in Priam’s palace and secure Helen. Cassandra flees to the Temple of Athena for protection, but Ajax the Lesser breaches the temple and rapes her even as she clings to the goddess’ sacred statute so desperately it’s knocked over during the assault. The violation of her temple earns the Achaeans Athena’s wrath, where she’d previously been strongly allied. Odysseus tells the Greeks to stone Ajax to death to appease her, but Ajax flees back into the temple, invoking the same sacred sanctuary he’d just violated. The Greeks are at an impasse as to what would anger Athena more, further violating her sacred sanctuary, or failing to punish the original violator who seeks refuge there. Despite Odysseus’ warnings, they decide to let Ajax walk. The Achaeans kill or enslave members of the Trojan royal family who survived the sack. King Priam is killed and Queen Hecuba throws herself into the sea (though Hecate may have transformed her into a dog to spare her). Their youngest daughter Polyxena is sacrificed to pacify Achilles’ shade. Cassandra is enslaved and made Agamemnon’s concubine, Hector’s widow Andromache is given to Neoptolemus. Neoptolemus and Odysseus kill Hector and Andromache’s infant son Astyanax despite Andromache’s attempts to hide him.

1. Raid of Ismarus: After leaving Troy, Odysseus and crew attack the Trojan-allied Cicones, though the war is over. 2. the Lotus Eaters: an island of people addicted to the bewitching lotus fruit. 3. Polyphemus: a man-eating Cyclops and, crucially, a demigod son of Poseidon. Odysseus blinds him in self-defense, but spitefully robs and mocks him, and reveals his name, attracting Poseidon’s wrath. 4. Receiving the wind bag from Aeolus: When a storm blocks their route, Odysseus requests the assistance of the wind god Aeolus, who contains the storm in a bag. They nearly make it to Ithaca when the crew opens it, losing the wind. 5. the Laestrygonian giants: man-eating giants who kill most of Odysseus’ crew. 6. Circe’s Isle: the surviving crew reach the island of the witch Circe, who turns many into pigs. Odysseus defeats her with Hermes’ help, and stays (and sleeps) with her for a year. 7. the Underworld and the Prophet: on Circe’s advice, they journey to the underworld for the council of the ghost of the prophet Tiresias for how to get home. 8. the Sirens: monstrous mermaids who lure prey in with their song. Odysseus plugs the ears of his crew but ties himself to the mast to hear their song. 9. Scylla: a monster who dwells in the cliffs opposite Charybdis; kills 6 men. 10. the cattle of the Sun: sacred cattle of Helios. The crew knows not to eat them but succumbs to desperation after they’re stranded and begin to starve. They are struck down by Zeus, with Odysseus the only survivor. 11. Charybdis: monstrous whirlpool opposite Scylla. Odysseus is swept toward her after his ship is destroyed but escapes. 12. Calypso: the exiled daughter of a Titan. Saves, then seduces or detains Odysseus for several years on her island. 13. Guest of the Phaeacians: Poseidon shipwrecks Odysseus after he leaves Calypso and he washes up on Phaeacia. Hosted by the royal family, he tells the Phaeacians the story of his journey so far. 14. Ithaca (Home)

~9 years into the war in Troy, the commander of the Achaeans, Agamemnon, captures and enslaves the daughter of a priest of Apollo, bringing a divine plague down on his troops when he refuses to ransom her back to her father. He eventually caves to pressure to return her, but demands another “bride prize” as “repayment.” He takes Briseis, the bride prize of the young demigod soldier Achilles. Angered by Agamemnon’s disrespect, Achilles refuses to fight, as unlike the others he is not bound by the Oath of Tyndareus. The nearly 10-year-long war is deeply unpopular on both sides, but divine intervention foils their attempt to end the war quickly, and they resign themselves to the total destruction of their opponents. Now unchecked by Achilles, the Trojan forces under crown prince Hector press advantage and attempt to burn the Achaean ships, the only escape for the invading Greeks, which would certainly lead to their slaughter. The Greeks hold them off, but over the weeks the Trojans advance until the Greeks are pinned down in their camp. Agamemnon relents and asks Achilles to rejoin the fight, but Achilles refuses, telling them his goddess mother foretold he would either live a long and peaceful life in obscurity, or die young in glory in Troy. As a boy a glorious death sounded heroic, but now, nearly ten years later, a long, quiet life doesn’t seem so bad. Thoughts and prayers to the others, but Achilles’ concern is for himself and his own. The Greeks steel themselves to fight to the end, while the Trojans rally to defend their home. Achilles’ dearest friend Patroclus watches in horror as the Trojans breach the Greek camp, and rebuking Achilles for his callousness, takes Achilles’ armor and leads the Myrmidon forces to defend the Greeks himself. They rescue their comrades, but Patroclus is killed by Hector. Enraged by Patroclus’ death, Achilles finally retakes the field, even knowing it will seal his fate, and vows to avenge Patroclus. He slaughters the Trojan forces, forcing them to flee for the city. Ashamed to have led his men into a massacre, Hector resolves to face Achilles alone rather than retreat behind the walls of Troy despite his family’s pleas. He asks Achilles only that the victor agree to treat their foe’s body with dignity, which Achilles coldly rejects and kills him. Hector’s family watches in horror as Achilles parades Hector’s naked body around the walls of Troy and encourages his men to mutilate him, dragging him behind his chariot as tribute for Patroclus. But after Patroclus’ funeral, Achilles finds that revenge feels empty. No matter how he desecrates Hector, it won’t bring Patroclus back, and Achilles will soon die as well. However, when Hector’s father Priam enters Achilles’ camp with an emotional plea for his son’s body, Achilles finally relents, even calling a temporary ceasefire for Hector’s funeral, salvaging the last of his humanity as he prepares to face his fate.