With this epic poem, Quintus Smyrnaeus attempts to fill the gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey, narrating the events at the end of the Trojan War, from the burial of Hector to the return of the Achaeans to Greece.

In books V-XI, the rivalry between Odysseus and Ajax for the acquisition of Achilles' armor is described, as well as the death of Ajax, the arrival of Eurypylus and Neoptolemus, the death of Eurypylus, the arrival of Philoctetes, and the death of Paris.