Intro | Oxy. P. | Proclus 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

The authorship of the Cypria was a subject of debate even in antiquity. Although some early traditions occasionally attributed it to Homer himself, most ancient scholars assigned it to Stasinus of Cyprus or Hegasias of Salamis. The name of the poem likely refers to the island of Cyprus, a major cult center for Aphrodite, who is the driving divine force behind the poem's events.

Since the original poem — composed of eleven books in hexameter verse — has vanished, we rely on two primary "navigators" to understand its contents:

The Cypria transforms the Trojan War from a mere human quarrel into a divine plan. It introduces the idea that Zeus orchestrated the war to "lighten the burden" of an overpopulated Earth and to end the Age of Heroes. This motif is common to several cultures, such as the Mesopotamian Epic of Atrahasis, the Indian Mahabharata, the Norse Ragnarök, and even the Biblical tradition of the Genesis Flood. 

In this case, from the wedding of Peleus and Thetis to the abandonment of Philoctetes, the Cypria sets the tragic tone for everything that follows in the Homeric tradition.

The translation below offers three (3) sources: the short Oxyrhynchus Papyri; Proclus's notes; and additional passages by Pseudo-Apollodorus, contained in Greek quotation marks (« »). I've included footnotes for some of the passages, to make it easier for newcomers. Hovering over them will show the notes; clicking them will take you to the bottom of the page where they are (click the back icon, ↩, to return to where you were).

(1) From the Oxyrhynchus Papyri,¹ 3829 ii 9:

Zeus, having judged the heroic race to be impious, consulted with Themis to destroy them utterly. While he was celebrating the wedding of Peleus and Thetis² on Mount Pelion, at the home of Chiron the Centaur, he invited all the gods to the feast; as Eris (Strife) arrived, however, she alone was denied entry by Hermes on Zeus's orders. Enraged, she threw a golden apple into the party. A dispute arose between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite over it, and Zeus set [the apple] as a prize for whichever was the most beautiful.

References

1. Group of manuscripts dated from 400 BC to 640 AD, discovered during the late 19th and early 20th centuries at an ancient garbage in el-Bahnasa, near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt.[↩]
2. Achilles’s parents.[↩]
3. Another name for Paris. You can read more about it in this article.[↩]
4. Sections with Greek quotation marks (« ») are additions to Proclus's text taken from Pseudo-Apollodorus[↩]
5. The name Τυνδαρίδαι is a patronymic, meaning "the sons of Τυνδάρεως (Tyndareus)." In Greek mythology, this group traditionally refers to the twin brothers Κάστωρ (Castor) and Πολυδεύκης (Polydeuces, alternatively called Pollux). They are twin half-brothers, as they have the same mother (Λήδα, Leda), but different fathers: Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus (the mortal King of Sparta), whereas Polydeuces was the divine son of Zeus, who seduced Leda in the guise of a swan. They are known together as the Dioscuri or Dioskouroi.

   The children of Tyndareus are actually 4 famous siblings:

   1. Κάστωρ (Castor, the mortal twin, a master tamer of horses);
   2. Πολυδεύκης (Polydeuces/Pollux, divine son of Zeus, a champion boxer);
   3. Ἑλένη (Helen, the "face that launched a thousand ships," also a daughter of Zeus); and
   4. Κλυταιμήστρα (Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon).

   When Ἀλέξανδρος (Paris) arrives in Lacedaemonia (the region around Sparta), he is effectively being hosted by Helen's brothers. This passage is important for two main reasons: firstly, it makes Section 3 below more tragic. While Paris and Helen sail away to Troy, her brothers — the very men who just showed him hospitality — get into a separate, fatal conflict with their cousins Ἴδας (Idas) and Λυγκεύς (Lynceus) over stolen cattle. Castor is killed in the fight, and Polydeuces ends up sharing his own immortality with his brother so they can stay together, alternating days in Ἅιδης (Hades) and Ὄλυμπος (Olympus).

   Secondly, this sets up the "Teichoscopia" that will take place in Book 3 of the Iliad: Helen stands on the walls of Troy and looks for her brothers among the Greek army, wondering why they didn't come to rescue her. She doesn't realize that they have already died and become gods, as described in Section 3 below.[↩]

6. This addition by Apollodorus is important because it adds a layer of pathos (suffering) to the story, by emphasizing that Helen didn't just leave her husband, but abandoned a young child. It also helps ancient chronologists calculate the timeline of the war. In the Odyssey, when Telemachus visits Sparta to see Menelaus, he arrives right as Hermione is being married off to Neoptolemus (Achilles's son).[↩]
7. Ancient Phoenician port city located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in what is now the city of Saida, in modern-day Lebanon. It sits about 40 km (25 mi) north of its famous sister-city, Tyre. In the Bronze Age, it was one of the most powerful maritime hubs in the world, renowned for its purple dye (extracted from murex snails) and its advanced glassmaking.

   Paris's motivation for sacking Sidon is unclear. Some ancient sources, like Apollodorus, imply that Paris captured the city essentially as an act of piracy. Therefore, some scholars suggest he did this to gather more wealth to bring back to Troy as a "wedding gift," whereas others see it as a sign of his growing arrogance and lawlessness — showing that he wasn't just a lover, but a violent, opportunistic warrior.[↩]

8. Polydeuces survives the fight because he is immortal, but he is devastated by the death of his brother. He prays to Zeus either to let him die with Castor or to let Castor share his divinity. According to the Cypria, Zeus allotts to them immortality on alternating days (it's portrayed as a divine decree, Zeus seeing the grief of his son and providing the solution himself).

   However, Pindar (Nemean 10.80–85) gives a more detailed account: as Polydeuces stands over his dying brother, he prays to Zeus: "Let me die too, O King, along with him!" Zeus appears and says, "If you wish to escape death and hateful old age, you may dwell on Olympus. But if you strive for your brother, you may share half the time beneath the earth, and half the time in the golden halls of heaven." Without hesitation, Polydeuces chooses a shared life.

   There are two main takeaways here: firstly, notwithstanding the wording in the Cypria, Zeus doesn't exactly give them "immortality" per se; he gives them "other-day-ness." It’s a very specific, almost mathematical solution to a divine tragedy: they are 50% divine and 50% mortal, forever.

   Secondly, in the Cypria, this happens at the exact same time Paris is sailing away with Helen. It is a dark omen: while the "Sons of Zeus" are sacrificing themselves altruistically for fraternal love, the "Guest" (Paris) is betraying his host for a selfish one. Given the aspect of Greek phyloxenia, a guest betrayal of his host is an enormous sacrilege.[↩]

9. Nestor (king of Pylos) is the oldest and wisest of the Greek kings. This passage illustrates the consistency of Nestor's character: he tends to go back in time and steep current events in a mythological (which, for the Greeks, was historical) background. In his παρέκβασις (digression), therefore, he does not give a simple "yes" or "no" answer to a war against Troy, but provides instead historical and mythological precedents. This feature allows the actual story author to provide mythological validation: by placing the "Abduction of Helen" alongside the "Madness of Heracles" and the "Fall of Oedipus," he is elevating Menelaus's personal problem into a grand, cosmic event. Essentially, he is preparing both Menelaus and the reader for the fact that this won't be a quick rescue mission — it is going to be an epic struggle that matches the greatest tragedies of history.[↩]
10. This is very likely a mistaken rendering of the name Lycos. Both Apollodorus and Asios tell us of Antiope, a woman of extraordinary beauty and daughter of Nycteus, king of Thebes. Epopeus (the King of Sicyon), either seduces her or abducts her by force. Either way, her father, Nycteus, leads an army against Sicyon to get his daughter back, but instead ends up fatally wounded in battle. Before he dies, Nycteus makes Lycus (not Lycurgus) swear a blood oath to finish the war and punish Antiope. Lycos takes over the regency of Thebes and launches a second, massive invasion. He sacks the city of Sicyon, kills Epopeus, and takes Antiope back as a prisoner. This, of course, highlights several parallels: as Epopeus violated the house of Nycteus, Paris violated the house of Menelaus; how the act of one man can lead to the sacking of an entire city (Sicyon), which foreshadows the fate of Troy; the persistence of blood feuds, as the story doesn't end with the abduction, but ends generations later with the bloody rise of Amphion and Zethos (sons of Antiope). Nestor uses this as a "case study" to show that such acts of hubris always end in ruin. It's as if he said, "when a woman of a royal house is taken, cities burn and dynasties fall. Prepare yourself, Menelaus, because history is repeating itself."[↩]
11. The famous king of Thebes who unwittingly kills his father and marries his mother. The story of Oedipus is the ultimate example of how one "stain" or crime can destroy an entire royal lineage. Nestor is reminding Menelaus that the actions of one person (like Paris) can bring down a whole house.[↩]
12. The son of Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, Heracles (Hercules) was the living proof of Zeus's infidelity towards Hera. The goddess spends Heracles's entire life trying to destroy him. When the hero finishes his labors and returns home, Hera sends Lyssa (Personified Madness) to infect him. In a hallucination, he believes his own children are the children of his enemy Eurystheus. Driven to madness, Hercules murders his own children (see the play "Herakles" by Euripides). Here, Nestor highlights the interference of the gods in human lives. Since Aphrodite is the one who caused Helen to leave, Nestor is likely warning Menelaus that they are dealing with divine forces that can strip a man of his reason.
    [↩]
13. Theseus was an Athenian hero who traveled to Crete and slayed the Minotaur. Ariadne was the daughter of Minos (King of Crete), who fell in love with Theseus and helped him get out of the labyrinth. To learn why Nestor refers to them here, read this article.[↩]
14. The king of Cyprus.[↩]
15. Later mythographers and commentators identify this son as Amathous (after whom the city Amathus is named) or, in some variations, Mygdalion. Learn more about it in this article.[↩]
16. Learn more about it in this article.[↩]
17. During the first gathering at Aulis, the Greek leaders perform a hecatomb to Apollo (or Zeus, depending on the source) under a tree. As the sacrificial fire burns, the ritual is interrupted when a blood-red serpent (δράκων) darts from beneath the altar and climbs the tree to devour eight young sparrows and their mother. Once the serpent devours all nine birds, Zeus turns it into stone. The prophet Calchas interprets the nine birds as years: the Greeks would fight at Troy for nine years without success; in the tenth year, the city would finally fall, as did the serpent. See the Iliad 2.301-329.[↩]
18. Teuthrania (named after King Teuthras) was a specific city-state/district in Mysia, the larger kingdom/region in northwest Asia Minor. The two names are often used interchangeably to describe the same ill-fated event: after setting sail from Aulis, the Greeks get lost, land in Mysia, mistakenly believing it was the coast of Troy. They ravage the countryside, kill the locals, wound Telephus (son of Heracles and King of the Mysians), retreat after finding out they're in the wrong place, then their fleet gets lost and scattered by a massive storm, which forces them back to Greece, effectively resetting the entire expedition (not to mention the tragedies that follow after Agamemnon sacrifices his own daughter during their second stay at Aulis).[↩]
19. Another name for Troy[↩]
20. The son of Heracles and Auge (daughter of king Aleus of Tegea). Telephus was adopted by Teuthras, the king of Mysia, in Asia Minor, whom he succeeded as king.[↩]
21. Polyneices (alt. Polynices) and his brother of Eteocles were sons of Oedipus (who, before he died, cursed his sons to "divide their inheritance with the sword"). After Oedipus was exiled from Thebes, his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, agreed to share the kingship by ruling in alternate years. But when Eteocles ruled the first year, he refused to step down by his term’s end. Instead, he expelled his brother, Polynices, from the city. Polynices fled to Argos, where he married the daughter of King Adrastus and raised a massive army to take his throne back by force. He chose six of the greatest champions of Greece, and himself, to each attack one gate of Thebes (the famed 7-Gated City). The war was a catastrophe. Everyone except King Adrastus died. The two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, ended up killing each other in single combat at the seventh gate, fulfilling their father's curse. The descendants of the 7 warriors who invaded Thebes are called the Epigoinoi (lit., the descendants). Thersander, being the son of Polyneices and Oedipus’s grandson, is one of the Epigonoi.[↩]
22. The southernmost island of the Sporades, an archipelago in the Aegean Sea.[↩]
23. Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra.[↩]
24. See the play "Iphigenia at Aulis" by Euripides.[↩]
25. Alternative ending to Iphigenia's sacrifice. See  the play "Iphigenia in Tauris" by Euripides.[↩]
26. Today, a Turkish island called Bozcaada. During the Trojan War, the Greeks hid their fleet in Tenedos to trick the Trojans into believing the war was over and taking the Trojan Horse within the city walls.[↩]
27. The island, originally called Leucophrys, was renamed Tenedos in Tenes’s honor after he survived a false accusation by his stepmother (who claimed he tried to seduce her) and was set adrift in a chest, eventually washing up on the island’s shores.[↩]
28. King of Colonae, who was himself a son of Poseidon.[↩]
29. Tenes’s death is the "Original Sin" of Achilles. It explains why Apollo — who was either the true father or the protector of Tenes — becomes Achilles's primary divine enemy. This act ensures that Achilles will never live to see the fall of Troy, as it is Apollo who eventually guides the arrow of Paris that kills Achilles.[↩]
30. Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea.[↩]