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The Cypria (; ; ) is a lost epic poetry of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquityHerodotus (ii.117) refers to it. and fixed in a received text, but which subsequently was lost to view. It was part of the Epic Cycle, which told the entire history of the Trojan War in epic hexameter verse. The story of the Cypria comes chronologically at the beginning of the Epic Cycle, and is followed by that of the Iliad; the composition of the two was apparently in the reverse order. The poem comprised eleven books of verse in epic dactylic hexameters.
The stories contained in the Cypria, on the other hand, were fixedW. Kullmann's term Faktkanon, the "canon of facts" is useful in distinguishing fixed narrative content—the list and sequence of facts—from fixed, canonic texts. much earlier than that, and the same problems of dating associated with the epics also apply to the Cypria. Many or all of the stories in the Cypria were known to the composer(s) of the Iliad and Odyssey. The Cypria, in presupposing an acquaintance with the events of the Homeric poem, in the received view thus formed a kind of introduction to the Iliad Encyclopædia Britannica, 1911: "Stasinus" though there is an overlap in events from the death of Palamedes, including the catalogue of Trojan allies. J. Marks observes that "Indeed, the junction would be seamless if the Kypria simply ended with the death of Palamedes."
The title Cypria, associating the epic with Cyprus,Burkert, (Burkert 1992:103) noting Mesopotamian parallels, concludes "these observations must then point to that epoch when Cyprus, though rich and powerful, was still formally under Assyrian domination". demanded some explanation: the epic was said in one ancient traditionRecorded in John Tzetzes' Chiliades xiii.638. to have been given by Homer as a dowry to his son-in-law, a Stasinus of Cyprus mentioned in no other context; there was apparently an allusion to this in a lost Nemean ode by Pindar. Some later writers repeated the story. It did at least serve to explain why the Cypria was attributed by some to Homer and by others to Stasinus. Others, however, ascribed the poem to Hegesias (or Hegesinus) of Salamis in Cyprus or to Cyprias of Halicarnassus (see Cyclic Poets).
It is possible that the "Trojan Battle Order" (the list of Troy and their allies, of Iliad 2.816–876, which forms an appendix to the Catalogue of Ships) is abridged from that in the Cypria, which was known to contain in its final book a list of the Trojan allies.
The poem narrates the origins of the Trojan War and its first events. It begins with the decision of Zeus to relieve the Earth of the burden of population through war, a decision with familiar Mesopotamian parallels.Burkert 1992: 101–104. Compare Atra-Hasis. The war of the Seven against Thebes ensues.
The Cypria described the wedding of Peleus and Thetis; in the Judgement of ParisParis is called Alexandros in quotations of Cypria and in the surviving synopsis. among the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite: Paris awards the prize for beauty to Aphrodite, and as a prize is awarded Helen, wife of Menelaus.
Then Paris builds his ships at Aphrodite's suggestion, and Helenus foretells the future to him, and Aphrodite orders Aeneas to sail with him, while Cassandra prophesies the outcome. In Sparta the Trojans are entertained by the sons of Tyndareus, Castor and Pollux, and by Menelaus, who then sets sail for Crete, ordering Helen to furnish the guests with all they require."In the Cypria, Nemesis was Helen's mother, born after Zeus raped the goddess, who had done her best to escape him." Aphrodite brings Helen and Paris together, and he takes her and her dowry back to his home of Troy with an episode at Sidon, which Paris and his men successfully storm.
In the meantime Castor and Pollux, while stealing the cattle of Idas and Lynceus, are caught and killed: Zeus gives them immortality that they share every other day.
Iris informs Menelaus, who returns to plan an expedition against Ilium with his brother Agamemnon. They set out to assemble the former suitors of Helen, who had sworn an oath to defend the rights of whichever one won her hand. Nestor in a digression tells Menelaus how Epopeus was destroyed after seducing the daughter of Lycus, the story of Oedipus, the madness of Heracles, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne. In gathering the leaders, they detect Odysseus' feigned madness.
The assembled leaders offer ill-omened sacrifice at Aulis, where the prophet Calchas warns the Greeks that the war will last ten years. They reach the city of Teuthras in Mysia and sack it in error for Ilium: Telephus comes to the city's rescue and is wounded by Achilles. The fleet scattered by storm, Achilles puts in at Skyros and marries Deidameia, the daughter of Lycomedes, then heals Telephus, so that he might be their guide to Ilium.
When the Achaeans have been mustered a second time at Aulis, Agamemnon is persuaded by Calchas to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease the goddess Artemis and obtain safe passage for the ships, after he offends her by killing a stag. Iphigeneia is fetched as though for marriage with Achilles. Artemis, however, snatches her away, substituting a deer on the altar, and transports her to the land of the Tauri, making her immortal.
Next they sail as far as Tenedos, where while they are feasting, Philoctetes is bitten by a snake and is left behind in Lemnos. Here, too, Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon. A first landing at the Troad is repulsed by the Trojans, and Protesilaus is killed by Hector. Achilles then kills Cycnus, the son of Poseidon, and drives the Trojans back. The Greeks take up their dead and send envoys to the Trojans demanding the surrender of Helen and the treasure. The Trojans refusing, they first attempt an assault upon the city, and then lay waste the country round about.
Achilles desires to see Helen, and Aphrodite and Thetis contrive a meeting between them. The Achaeans next desire to return home, but are restrained by Achilles, who afterwards drives off the cattle of Aeneas, sacks neighbouring cities, and kills Troilus. Patroclus carries away Lycaon to Lemnos and sells him as a slave, and out of the spoils Achilles receives Briseis as a prize, and Agamemnon Chryseis. Then follow the death of Palamedes, the plan of Zeus to relieve the Trojans by detaching Achilles from the Hellenic confederacy, and a catalogue of the Trojan allies.
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