Nostoi
lost epic of ancient Greek literature, about the return of the Greek heroes after the Trojan War
The Nostoi (Greek: Νόστοι Nóstoi, sing. nostos lit. 'return home'), also known as Returns or Returns of the Greeks, is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature. A part of the Epic Cycle, also known as the Trojan cycle, it narrated the stories of the Achaean heroes returning to Greece after the end of the Trojan War. The story of the Nostoi comes chronologically after that of the Iliupersis (Sack of Ilium), and is followed by that of the Odyssey. The author of the Nostoi is uncertain; ancient writers attributed the poem variously to Agias (8th century BC), Homer (8th century BC), and Eumelos of Corinth (8th century BC) (see Cyclic Poets). The poem comprised five books of verse in dactylic hexameter.
Date
Both the date of composition of the Nostoi and the date that it was set into writing are very uncertain. The text is most likely to have been finalized in the 7th or the 6th century BC.
Contents
The Nostoi relates the return home of the Greek heroes after the end of the Trojan War. In current critical editions only five and a half lines of the poem's original text survive. Current understandings on its storyline are almost entirely confined to a summary of the Cyclic epics contained in the chrestomathy attributed to an unknown Proklos (possibly to be identified with the 2nd-century AD grammarian Eutychius Proclus).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Nostoi” is lost epic of ancient Greek literature, about the return of the Greek heroes after the Trojan War. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Nostoi, lost and epic, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “lost epic of ancient Greek literature, about the return of the Greek heroes after the Trojan War” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1999875. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
Official terminology may obscure informal participation, dissent or communities documented only indirectly. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.
- Event chronology
- Institutional context
- Locating named record creators
Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Nostoi”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Nostoi primary sources, Nostoi archive and Nostoi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Nostoi”?
- Who created the surviving record, and for what administrative purpose?
- Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Nostoi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.