According to some ancient authorities, Stasinus ( el, Στασῖνος) of
Cyprus was a semi-legendary early
Greek poet. He is best known for his lost work, ''
Cypria
The ''Cypria'' (; grc-gre, Κύπρια ''Kúpria''; Latin: ''Cypria'') is a lost epic poem of ancient Greek literature, which has been attributed to Stasinus and was quite well known in classical antiquity and fixed in a received text, but whic ...
'' which was one of the poems belonging to the
Epic Cycle that narrated the
War of Troy
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans ( Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology a ...
.
The ''Cypria'', presupposing an acquaintance with the events of the Homeric poem, confined itself to what preceded the ''
Iliad'', and has been described as an introduction. The poem contained an account of the
Judgement of Paris, the
rape of
Helen, the abandonment of
Philoctetes
Philoctetes ( grc, Φιλοκτήτης ''Philoktētēs''; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, ''-tet-''), or Philocthetes, according to Greek mythology, was the son of Poeas, king of Meliboea in Thessaly, and Demonas ...
on the island of
Lemnos, the landing of the
Achaeans on the coast of
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, and the first engagement before
Troy.
Proclus, in his ''Chrestomathia'', gave an outline of the poem (preserved in
Photius
Photios I ( el, Φώτιος, ''Phōtios''; c. 810/820 – 6 February 893), also spelled PhotiusFr. Justin Taylor, essay "Canon Law in the Age of the Fathers" (published in Jordan Hite, T.O.R., & Daniel J. Ward, O.S.B., "Readings, Cases, Materia ...
, cod. 239).
Plato puts quotes from Stasinus' works in the mouth of Socrates, in his dialogue ''
Euthyphro''.
[Plato, ''Euthyphro'' 12a–b (Stasinus ''Cypria'' Fr. 20).]
Surviving fragments
*''Of Zeus, the author and creator of all these things,/ You will not tell: for where there is fear there is also reverence.'' - fragment cited by Socrates in the ''Euthyphro'' dialogue
References
Sources
*
F.G. Welcker,
Der epische Cyclus, oder Die homerischen Dichter' Bonn : E. Weber, 1849-65.
*
D.B. Monro,
Homer's Odyssey, books XIII-XXIV' Appendix to his edition of ''
Odyssey'', xiii–xxiv. (1901)
*Thomas W Allen, "The Epic Cycle," in ''Classical Quarterly'' 2.1 (January 1908:54-64).
{{authority control
Cypriot poets
Ancient Cypriots
Early Greek epic poets
7th-century BC Greek people
7th-century BC poets
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
Ancient Greek writers known only from secondary sources