List of lost literary works

This is a list of lost literary works.

Antiquity (to 500 CE)

Sumerian texts

Enheduanna (24th–23rd century BC) Hymn of Praise of Enheduanna, only survives in fragments.

Ancient Greek texts Homer (8th or 7th century BC) Margites The Odyssey mentions the blind singer Demodocus performing a poem recounting the otherwise unknown "Quarrel of Odysseus and Achilles", which might have been an actual work that did not survive. The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (sometime between 750 and 650 BC) The work of the Cyclic poets (excluding Homer, dated between the 8th century and 5th century BC), specifically: six epics of the Epic Cycle: Cypria, Aethiopis, the Little Iliad, the Iliupersis ("Sack of Troy"), Nostoi ("Returns"), and Telegony. four epics of the Theban Cycle: Oedipodea, Thebaid, Epigoni, and Alcmeonis. other early Greek epics: Titanomachy, Heracleia, Capture of Oechalia, Naupactia, Phocais, Minyas Alcman (7th century BC) Of six books of choral lyrics that were known (ca. 50–60 hymns), only fragmentary quotations in other Greek authors were known until the discovery of a fragment in 1855, containing approximately 100 verses. In the 1960s, many more fragments were discovered and published from a dig at Oxyrhynchus. Thespis () (possibly erroneous attributions or forgeries made during the Common Era) Contest of Pelias and Phorbas Hiereis (or Priests) Hemitheoi (or Demigods) Pentheus Thales () On the Solstice (possible lost work) On the Equinox (possible lost work) Anaximander () On Nature (or Perì Phúseôs) Rotation of the Earth (or Gês Períodos) On Fixed Stars (or Perì Tôn Aplanôn) The Celestial Sphere (or Sphaîra)) The Hellespontine Sibyl (c. 6th century BC) Sibylline Books Pherecydes of Syros (6th century BCE) Heptamychia Anacreon (6th century BC) Of the five books of lyrical pieces mentioned in the Suda and by Athenaeus, only mere fragments collected from the citations of later writers now exist. Xenophanes (c. 570-c. 478 BC) Fragments of his poetry survive only as quotations by later Greek writers. Epicharmus of Cos (c. 550-c. 460 BC) He wrote between 35 and 52 comedies, many of which have been lost or exist only in fragments. Aeschylus (525–455 BC). He is believed to have written some 90 plays, of which six survive. A seventh play is attributed to him. Achilleis, fragments of this play were said to have been discovered in the wrappings of a mummy in the 1990s. Alcmene The Argo Atalanta The Bacchae Cabiri Callisto The Children of Heracles Circe The Danaids The Egyptians Epigoni Iphigenia Ixion The Lion Memnon Myrmidons, survives in fragments. Nereids, survives in fragments. Niobe The Nurses of Dionysus Penelope Pentheus Philoctetes Phrygians (or Hector’s Ransom), survives in fragments. The Priestesses Prometheus The Fire-Bearer Prometheus The Fire-Kindler Prometheus Unbound Semele Sisyphus The Runaway Sisyphus The Stone-Roller The Sphinx Telephus The Thracian Women The Weighing of Souls Women of Salamis The Youths Cratinus ( 519 BC – 422 BC) Only fragments of his works have been preserved.

Ctesias (5th century BC) Persica, a history of Assyria and Persia in 23 books Indica, an account of India Agathon (5th century BC) None of his plays survive. Eupolis (5th century BC) Of the 17 plays attributed to him, only fragments remain. Anaxagoras (c. 500 – 428 BC) Book of Philosophy. Only fragments of the first part have survived. Xenocles (c. 5th century BC) Athamas Bacchae Licymnius Lycaon Myes Oedipus Anaximander (late 6th-early 5th century BCE) There are a few extant fragments of his works. Alcaeus (late 6th-early 5th century BCE) Of a reported ten scrolls, there exist only quotes and numerous fragments of his work. Leucippus (f. 5th century BC) None of his work survives, save for one singular sentence. Heraclitus (fl. c. 500 BC) His writings only survive in fragments quoted by other authors. Sophocles (c. 497 – 406 BC) Akhilleôs Erastai (or Male Lover of Achilles). Aigeus Aithiopes Akrisios Alexandros Amphiaurus Amycos Satyrykos Antenoridae Cassandra Cerberus Clytemnestra Daedalus Danae Dionysiaca Epigoni, only small fragments survive. Eris Helenes Apaitesis (or Helen’s Demand). Helenes Gamos (or Helen’s Marriage). Herakles Epi Tainaro (or Heracles At Taenarum). Ichneutae, only a fragmentary 400 lines survive making it the second best surviving Satyr play behind Euripides's Cyclops. Inachos, only small fragments survive. Ion Iphigenia Ixion Minos Niobe Odysseus Acanthoplex, only fragments survive. Odysseus Mainomenos (or Odysseus Gone Mad) Pandora Peleus Phaedra Philoctetes In Troy Phoenix Priam Sisyphus Tantalus Tereus, only fragmentary knowledge survives. Theseus Triptolemos, only small fragments survive. Women of Colchis Ion of Chios (c. 490 BC – c. 420 BC) Agamemnon Alcmene Argives Eurytidai (or Sons of Erytus) Laertes Omphale Phoenix and Caeneus Phoenix Deuteros Phrouroi (or Sentinels) Teucer Protagoras (c. 490 BC – c. 420 BC) "On the Gods" (essay) On the Art of Disputation On the Original State of Things On Truth Gorgias (483–375 BC) On Non-Existence (or On Nature). Only two sketches of it exist. Epitaphios. What exists is thought to be only a small fragment of a significantly longer piece. Pherecydes of Leros (c. 480 BC) A history of Leros On Iphigeneia, an essay On the Festivals of Dionysus Euripides (c. 480 – c. 406 BC). He is believed to have written over 90 plays, 18 of which have survived. Fragments, some substantial, of most other plays also survive. Alcmaeon in Corinth (405 BC), only fragments survive. Alcmaeon in Psophis (438 BC), only fragments survive. Alexandros (415 BC) Andromeda (412 BC), only fragments survive. Antiope (410 BC) Archelaus (410 BC), only fragments survive. Bellerophon (430 BC), only fragments survive. Captive Melanippe (412 BC) Cresphontes (425 BC) Cretan Women (438 BC) Cretans (435 BC) Dictys (431 BC), only fragments survive. Erectheus (422 BC) Hypsipyle (410 BC), only fragments survive. Palamedes (415 BC) Peliades (455 BC) Phaethon (420 BC), only fragments survive. Philoctetes (431 BC), only fragments survive. Sisyphus (415 BC) Stheneboea (429 BC) Telephus (438 BC) Theristai (or Reapers) (431 BC) Wise Melanippe (420 BC) Aristophanes (c. 446 - c. 386 BC) He wrote 40 plays, 11 of which survive. Socrates (c. 470–399 BC) Verse versions of Aesop's Fables. Pherecydes of Athens (c. 465 BC) Genealogies of the gods and heroes, originally in ten books; numerous fragments have been preserved. Prodicus ( – c. 395 BC) On Nature On the Nature of Man "On Propriety of Language" On the Choice of Heracles Agathon (c. 448 – c. 400 BC) Aerope Alcmaeon Anthos (or The Flower) Mysoi (or Mysians) Telephos (or Telephus) Thyestes Aristophanes (c. 446 BC – c. 386 BC) Banqueters (427 BC) Babylonians (426 BC) The Clouds (first version 423 BC) Amphiaraus (414 BC) Plutus (first version 408 BC) Cocalus (387 BC) Aiolosicon (387 BC) Speusippus (c. 408 – 339/8 BC) On Pythagorean Numbers Aristoxenus (4th century BC) He is said to have written 453 works, dealing with philosophy, ethics and music. His only extant work is Elements of Harmony. Aristotle (384–322 BC). It is believed that about one third of his original works has survived.Jonathan_Barnes, "Life and Work" in The Cambridge Companion to Aristotle (1995), p. 9. second book of Poetics, dealing with comedy On the Pythagoreans Protrepticus (fragments survived) Eudemus (c. 370 BCE – c. 300 BCE) History of Arithmetics, on the early history of Greek mathematics (only one short quote survives) History of Astronomy, on the early history of Greek astronomy (several quotes survive) History of Geometry, on the early history of Greek geometry (several quotes survive) Ptolemy I Soter (c. 364 – 282 BC) History of Alexander Diphilus (c. 4th-3rd century BC) He is said to have written 100 comedies, the titles of 50 of which are preserved. Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (c. 184 – 116 BC) Hypomnemata (The Memoirs or 'Notes'), twenty-four books of a miscellaneous collection of paradoxography Callisthenes (c. 360 – 327 BCE) An account of Alexander's expedition A history of Greece from the Peace of Antalcidas (387) to the Third Sacred War (357) A history of the Phocian war Cleitarchus (mid to late 4th century BCE) History of Alexander Pytheas of Massalia (c. 350 BC, fl. c. 320–306 BC) τὰ περὶ τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ (ta peri tou Okeanou) "On the Ocean" Aristarchus of Samos (c. 310 – c. 230 BCE) Astronomy book outlining his heliocentrism (astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around a relatively stationary Sun) Megasthenes (c. 290 BC) Indica, an account of Mauryan India Manetho (early third century BC) Ægyptiaca (History of Egypt) in three books. Few, indirect, fragments survive. Berossus (beginning of the 3rd century BC) Babyloniaca (History of Babylonia) Euclid (fl. 300 BC) Conics, a work on conic sections later extended by Apollonius of Perga into his famous work on the subject. Porisms, the exact meaning of the title is controversial (probably "corollaries"). Pseudaria, or Book of Fallacies, an elementary text about fallacies in reasoning. Surface Loci concerned either loci (sets of points) on surfaces or loci which were themselves surfaces. Callimachus (3rd century BC) Of about 800 works, in verse and prose; only six hymns, 64 epigrams and some fragments survive; a considerable fragment of the epic Hecale, was discovered in the Rainer papyri. Archimedes (c. 287 – c. 212 BC) On Sphere-Making On Polyhedra Ctesibius (285–222 BC) On pneumatics, a work describing force pumps Memorabilia, a compilation of his research works Chrysippus (c. 279-c.206 BC) Of over 700 written works, none survive, except a few fragments embedded in the works of later authors. Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC – c. 195/194 BC) Περὶ τῆς ἀναμετρήσεως τῆς γῆς (On the Measurement of the Earth; lost, summarized by Cleomedes) Geographica (lost, criticized by Strabo) Arsinoe (a memoir of queen Arsinoe; lost; quoted by Athenaeus in the Deipnosophistae) Nicagoras, Athenian sophist (2nd century BC) Lives of Famous People On Cleopatra in Troas Embassy Speech to Philip the Roman Emperor Minucianus, son of Nicagoras the Athenian sophist (2nd century BC) Art of Rhetoric Progymnasmata Nicander (2nd century BC) Aetolica, a prose history of Aetolia. Heteroeumena, a mythological epic. Georgica and Melissourgica, of which considerable fragments are preserved. Clitomachus (2nd century BC) According to Diogenes Laërtius, he wrote some 400 books, of which none are extant today, although a few titles are known. Agatharchides (2nd century BC) Ta kata ten Asian (Affairs in Asia) in 10 books Ta kata ten Europen (Affairs in Europe) in 49 books Peri ten Erythras thalasses (On the Erythraean Sea) in 5 books Apollodorus of Athens (c. 180 BC – after 120 BC) Chronicle (Χρονικά), a Greek history in verse On the Gods (Περὶ θεῶν), known through quotes to have included etymologies of the names and epithets of the gods A twelve-book essay about Homer's Catalogue of Ships Diodorus Siculus (1st century BC) Bibliotheca historia (Historical Library). Of 40 books, only books 1–5 and 10–20 are extant. Alexander Polyhistor (first half of 1st century BC) Successions of Philosophers Memnon of Heraclea (c. 1st century AD) History of Heraclea Pontica Pamphilus of Alexandria (1st century AD) Comprehensive lexicon in 95 books of foreign or obscure words. Marcion of Sinope (late 1st-early 2nd century AD) The Gospel of the Lord, a work compiled by Marcion to support his interpretation of Christianity. Marcion's writings were suppressed but a portion of them have been recreated from the works that were used to denounce them. Papias (late 1st-2nd century AD)