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Aliterary cycle is a group of stories focused on common figures, often (though not necessarily) based on mythical figures or loosely on historical ones. Cycles which deal with an entire country are sometimes referred to asmatters. A fictional cycle is often referred to as amythos.

• TheAnansi tales, which center on the Ashanti of Ghana trickster spider-spirit Anansi, and its variations in the Americas asTi Malice and Bouki in Haiti,Br'er Rabbit or John and Old Master in theSouthern United States.
• The tales of theOne Thousand and One Nights, brought together by theframe story of the tale ofScheherazade andShahryār.
• TheMahabharata, the world's longest epic poem, many of whose stories deal with the lives of Indian mythological characters, most notablyKrishna
• Nasreddin (1208-1285) is a character in the folklore of theMuslim world fromthe Balkans toChina, and a hero of humorous short stories and satirical anecdotes.^[1]
• The fourtroubadoursBernart d'Auriac,Pere Salvatge,Roger Bernard III of Foix, andPeter III of Aragon composed a cycle of foursirventes in the summer of 1285 concerning theAragonese Crusade.
• TheMatter of Britain (or the "Arthurian cycle"), which centers onKing Arthur and theKnights of the Round Table
  • The Vulgate cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail)
  • The Post-Vulgate cycle
• TheMatter of France (or the "Carolingian cycle"), which centers onCharlemagne and theTwelve Peers
  • Chanson de Geste
    • La Geste de Garin de Monglane
    • Doon de Mayence
    • Garin le Loherain
    • Crusade cycle
      • Knight of the Swan
• TheHenriad, the four plays of Shakespeare centered on Henry V.
• Two examples of Japanese cycles are: the Matter of Japan (Kojiki,Nihon Shoki, etc.) and the Genji-Heike Cycle (The Tale of the Heike,Gikeiki aboutMinamoto no Yoshitsune, etc.). Also popular are theSoga Brothers andForty-Seven Ronin cycles.
• TheMatter of Rome (or the "cycle of Rome"), which centers onJulius Caesar andAlexander the Great
• TheShahnameh (or “The Book of Kings” ) and the legend ofArash the Archer as well asAvesta that make up most of thePersian Mythology, namely, tales of heroes likeRostam andEsfandyar
• TheMythological Cycle, which centers on theCeltic pantheon
• TheFenian Cycle, which centers onFionn mac Cumhaill and theFianna
• TheCycle of the Kings, which centers on themonarchy of Ireland
• TheReynard cycle, which centers on the fabular foxReynard
• Der Ring des Nibelungen (or the "Ring cycle"), which centers on the Ring and theNorse pantheon
• The voyages ofSinbad the sailor, the hero of a cycle of tales of monsters, magical places, and supernatural phenomena met on his successive voyages.
• TheEpic Cycle centering on theTrojan War
• TheUlster Cycle, which centers onCú Chulainn and theKingdom of Ulster
• TheCycle of the Gods, centering on the god-likeTuatha Dé Danann
• TheBaal Cycle, which centers on the battle ofBa'al Hadad againstYam andMawat
• TheEpic of Gilgamesh, centering upon the demigod kingGilgamesh andEnkidu
• Seven Wise Masters

• Book series
• Serial (literature)
• Series fiction

• Literature lists

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