Lesches of Mytilene (Λέσχης) (Lescheus the son of Aeschylinus of Pyrrha, Λέσχευς, in Pausanias x. 25. 5), is a semi-legendary early Greek poet and the reputed author of the Little Iliad (Ἰλιὰς Μικρά). According to the usually accepted tradition, he was a native of Pyrrha in Lesbos, and flourished about 660 BC (others place him about 50 years earlier). He may have spent part of his career at Mytilene, for Proclus (Chrestomathia, ii) refers to him as "Lesches of Mytilene".

The lost epic Little Iliad, in four books, took up the story of the Homeric Iliad, and, beginning with the contest between Telamonian Ajax and Odysseus for the arms of Achilles, carried it down to the feast of the Trojans over the captured Trojan Horse, according to the epitome in Proclus, Chrestomathy ii, or to the fall of Troy, according to Aristotle, Poetics, 23. Some ancient authorities ascribe the work to a Spartan named Cinaethon, and even to Homer.

See FG Welcker, Der epische Cyclus (1865-1882); Müller and Donaldson, Hist. of Greek Literature, i. ch. 6; CH Bode, Geschichte der hellenischen Dichtkunst.

Timeline related to Ancient Greek Literature

West, M.L. 2003, Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press). ISBN 0674996054

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.