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Cypria

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Cypria
byStasinus
Writtenc. 7th century BCE
CountryAncient Greece
LanguageAncient Greek
Genre(s)Epic poetry
Followed byIliad

TheCypria(/ˈsɪpri.ə/;[1]Greek:ΚύπριαKúpria;Latin:Cypria) is a lostepic poemof ancientGreek literature,which has been attributed toStasinusand was quite well known inclassical antiquity[2]and fixed in a received text, but which subsequently was lost to view. It was part of theEpic Cycle,which told the entire history of theTrojan Warin epic hexameter verse. The story of theCypriacomes chronologically at the beginning of the Epic Cycle, and is followed by that of theIliad;the composition of the two was apparently in the reverse order. The poem comprised eleven books of verse in epicdactylic hexameters.

Date and authorship

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TheCypria,in the written form in which it was known inclassical Greece,was probably composed in the late seventh century BCE,[3]but there is much uncertainty. The Cyclic Poets, as the translator of Homerica Hugh G. Evelyn-White noted,[4]"were careful not to trespass upon ground already occupied byHomer,"one of the reasons for dating the final, literary form ofCypriaas post-Homeric, in effect a "prequel"."The author of theKypriaalready regarded theIliadas a text. Any reading of theKypriawill show it preparing for events for (specifically) theIliadin order to refer back to them, for instance the sale ofLycaontoLemnosor the kitting out ofAchilleswithBriseisandAgamemnonwithChryseis".[5]A comparison can be made with theAethiopis,also lost, but which even in its quoted fragments is more independent of theIliadas text.

The stories contained in theCypria,on the other hand, were fixed[6]much earlier than that, and the same problems of datingoral traditionsassociated with theHomericepics also apply to theCypria.Many or all of the stories in theCypriawere known to the composer(s) of theIliadandOdyssey.TheCypria,in presupposing an acquaintance with the events of the Homeric poem, in the received view thus formed a kind of introduction to theIliad[7]though there is an overlap in events from the death ofPalamedes,including the catalogue of Trojan allies.[8]J. Marks observes that "Indeed, the junction would be seamless if theKypriasimply ended with the death of Palamedes. "[9]

The titleCypria,associating the epic withCyprus,[10]demanded some explanation: the epic was said in one ancient tradition[11]to have been given byHomeras a dowry to his son-in-law, aStasinus of Cyprusmentioned in no other context; there was apparently an allusion to this in a lost Nemean ode byPindar.Some later writers repeated the story. It did at least serve to explain why theCypriawas 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 (seeCyclic Poets).

It is possible that the "Trojan Battle Order"(the list ofTrojansand their allies, ofIliad2.816–876, which forms an appendix to theCatalogue of Ships) is abridged from that in theCypria,which was known to contain in its final book a list of the Trojan allies.

Manuscript tradition

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In current critical editions only about fifty lines survive of theCypria's original text, quoted by others. For the content we are almost entirely dependent on a prose summary of the Cyclic epics contained in theChrestomathyattributed to an unknown "Proclus" (possibly to be identified with the 2nd-century AD grammarianEutychius Proclus,or else with an otherwise unknown 5th-century grammarian).[12]Many other passing references give further minor indications of the poem's storyline.

Content

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What follows embeds reports of known content of theCypriain a retelling of the known events leading up to the anger of Achilles.

The poem narrates the origins of theTrojan Warand 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.[13]The war of theSeven against Thebesensues.

TheCypriadescribed the wedding ofPeleusandThetis;in theJudgement of Paris[14]among the goddessesAthena,Hera,andAphrodite:Paris awards the prize for beauty to Aphrodite, and as a prize is awardedHelen,wife ofMenelaus.

Then Paris builds his ships at Aphrodite's suggestion, andHelenusforetells the future to him, and Aphrodite ordersAeneasto sail with him, whileCassandraprophesies the outcome. InLacedaemonthe Trojans are entertained by the sons ofTyndareus,Castor and Pollux,and by Menelaus, who then sets sail for Crete, ordering Helen to furnish the guests with all they require.[15]Aphrodite brings Helen and Paris together, and he takes her and herdowryback to his home ofTroywith an episode atSidon,which Paris and his men successfully storm.

In the meantime Castor and Pollux, while stealing the cattle ofIdasandLynceus,are caught and killed: Zeus gives them immortality that they share every other day.

Irisinforms Menelaus, who returns to plan an expedition against Ilium with his brotherAgamemnon.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.Nestorin a digression tells Menelaus howEpopeuswas destroyed after seducing the daughter ofLycus,the story ofOedipus,the madness ofHeracles,and the story ofTheseusandAriadne.In gathering the leaders, they detectOdysseus' feigned madness.

The assembled leaders offer ill-omened sacrifice atAulis,where the prophetCalchaswarns the Greeks that the war will last ten years. They reach the city ofTeuthrasinMysiaand sack it in error for Ilium:Telephuscomes to the city's rescue and is wounded byAchilles.The fleet scattered by storm, Achilles puts in atSkyrosand marriesDeidameia,the daughter ofLycomedes,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 daughterIphigeniato appease the goddessArtemisand 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 theTauri,making her immortal.

Next they sail as far asTenedos,where while they are feasting,Philoctetesis bitten by a snake and is left behind inLemnos.Here, too, Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon. A first landing at theTroadis repulsed by the Trojans, andProtesilausis killed byHector.Achilles then killsCycnus,the son ofPoseidon,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 andThetiscontrive 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 killsTroilus.Patrocluscarries awayLycaonto Lemnos and sells him as a slave, and out of the spoils Achilles receivesBriseisas a prize, and AgamemnonChryseis. 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.

Reception

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TheCypriawas considered to be a lesser work thanHomer's two masterpieces:Aristotlecriticised it for its lack of narrative cohesion and focus. It was rather a catalogue of events than a unified story.

Editions

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  • Online editions (English translation):
  • Print editions (Greek):
    • A. Bernabé 1987,Poetarum epicorum Graecorum testimonia et fragmentapt. 1 (Leipzig)
    • M. Davies 1988,Epicorum Graecorum fragmenta(Göttingen)
  • Print editions (Greek with English translation):
    • M.L. West 2003 (ed., trans.),Greek Epic Fragments from the seventh to the fifth centuries BCLoeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA) pp. 64–107ISBN0-674-99605-4Online

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Avery, Catherine B., ed. (1962).New Century Classical Handbook.New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts. p. 350.
  2. ^Herodotus(ii.117) refers to it.
  3. ^"An indication that at least the main contents of theCypriawere known around 650 BCE is provided by the representation of theJudgement of Parison the Chigi vase "(Burkert 1992:103). On theproto-Atticpitcherof c. 640 BCE called theChigi vase,Paris is identified asAl[exand]ros,as he was apparently called inCypria.
  4. ^In his Preface toHesiod, The Homeric Hymns, and Homerica
  5. ^Ken Dowden,"Homer's Sense of Text"The Journal of Hellenic Studies116(1996, pp. 47–61). p. 48, noting that the observation had been made by Eric Bethe, inHomer: Dichtung und Sage II: Odysee, Kyklos, Zeitbestimmung,1922:202.
  6. ^W. Kullmann's termFaktkanon,the "canon of facts" is useful in distinguishing fixed narrative content—the list and sequence of facts—from fixed,canonic texts.
  7. ^Encyclopædia Britannica,1911: "Stasinus"
  8. ^Marks 2002,p. 1.
  9. ^Marks 2002,p. 2.
  10. ^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".
  11. ^Recorded inJohn Tzetzes'Chiliadesxiii.638.
  12. ^TheChrestomathyitself was preserved in the ninth-century PatriarchPhotios' renownedBibliothecaorMyriobiblon,codex 239.
  13. ^Burkert 1992: 101–104. CompareAtra-Hasis.
  14. ^Paris is calledAlexandrosin quotations ofCypriaand in the surviving synopsis.
  15. ^"In the Cypria, Nemesis was Helen's mother, born after Zeus raped the goddess, who had done her best to escape him."Scodel, Ruth (2008). "Stupid, Pointless Wars".Transactions of the American Philological Association.138(2): 219–235.doi:10.1353/apa.0.0009.S2CID161929609.

References

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