fragment 1
Proclus, Chrestomathia, i.
This is continued by the epic called Kypria which is current is eleven books. Its contents are as follows:
Zeus plans with Themis to bring about the Trojan War. Eris (Discord) arrives while the gods are feasting at the marriage of Peleus and starts a dispute between Hera, Athene, and Aphrodite as to which of them is fairest. The three are led by Hermes at the command of Zeus to Alexandros (Paris) on Mount Ida for his decision, and Alexandros, lured by his promised marriage with Helen, decides in favor of Aphrodite.
Then Alexandros builds his ships at Aphrodite's suggestion, and Helenos foretells the future to him, and Aphrodite orders Aineias to sail with him, while Kassandra prophesies as to what will happen afterwards. Alexandros next lands in Lakedaemon and is entertained by the sons of Tyndareus, and afterwards by Menelaos in Sparta, where in the course of a feast he gives gifts to Helen.
After this, Menelaos sets sail for Krete, ordering Helen to furnish the guests with all they require until they depart. Meanwhile, Aphrodite brings Helen and Alexandros together, and they, after their union, put very great treasures on board and sail away by night. Hera stirs up a storm against them and they are carried to Sidon, where Alexandros takes the city. From there he sailed to Troy and celebrated his marriage with Helen.
In the meantime, Kastor and Polydeukes, while stealing the cattle of Idas and Lynkeos, were caught in the act, and Kastor was killed by Idas, and Lynkeos and Idas by Polydeukes. Zeus gave them immortality every other day.
Iris next informs Menelaos of what has happened at his home. Menelaos returns and plans an expedition against Ilion (Troy) with his brother (Agamemnon), and then goes on to Nestor. Nestor in a digression tells him how Epopeus was utterly destroyed after seducing the daughter of Lykos, and the story of Oedipous, the madness of Herakles, and the story of Theseus and Ariadne. Then they travel over Hellas and gather the leaders, detecting Odysseus when he pretends to be mad, not wishing to join the expedition, by seizing his son Telemakhos for punishment at the suggestion of Palamedes.
All the leaders then meet together at Aulis and sacrifice. The incident of the serpent and the sparrows takes place before them, and Kalkhas foretells what is going to befall. After this, they put out to sea, and reach Teuthrania and sack it, taking it for Ilion. Telephos comes out to the rescue and kills Thersander and son of Polyneikes, and is himself wounded by Achilles. As they put out from Mysia a storm comes on them and scatters them, and Achilles first puts in at Skyros and married Deidameia, the daughter of Lykomedes, and then heals Telephos, who had been led by an oracle to go to Argos, so that he might be their guide on the voyage to Ilion.
When the expedition had mustered a second time at Aulis, Agamemnon, while at the chase, shot a stag and boasted that he surpassed even Artemis. At this the goddess was so angry that she sent stormy winds and prevented them from sailing. Kalkhas then told them of the anger of the goddess and bade them sacrifice Iphigenia to Artemis. This they attempt to do, sending to fetch Iphigenia as though for marriage with Achilles. Artemis, however, snatched her away and transported her to the Tauris, making her immortal, and putting a stag in place of the girl upon the altar.
Next they sail as far as Tenedos; and while they are feasting, Philoktetes is bitten by a snake and is left behind in Lemnos because of the stench of his sore. Here, too, Achilles quarrels with Agamemnon because he is invited late. Then the Greeks tried to land at Ilion, but the Trojans prevent them, and Protesilaos is killed by Hektor. Achilles then kills Kyknos, 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 with her. The Trojans refusing, they first assault the city, and then go out and lay waste the country and cities round about. After this, Achilles desires to see Helen, and Aphrodite and Thetis contrive a meeting between them. The Achaians next desire to return home, but are restrained by Achilles, who afterwards drives off the cattle of Aineias, and sacks Lyrnessos and Pedasos and many of the neighboring cities, and kills Troilos. Patroklos carries away Lykaon to Lemnos and sells him as a slave, and out of the spoils Achilles receives Briseis as a prize, and Agamemnon Khryseis. Then follows 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.
fragment 2
Tzetzes, Chiliades, xiii. 638.
Stasinus composed the Kypria, which the majority say was Homer's work and by him given to Stasinus as a dowry with money besides.
fragment 3
Scholiast on Homer, Iliad, i.5.
"There was a time when the countless tribes of men, though wide-dispersed, oppressed the surface of the deep-bosomed earth, and Zeus saw it and had pity and in his wise heart resolved to relieve the all-nurturing earth of men by causing the great struggle of the Ilian war (Trojan War), that the load of death might empty the world. And so the heroes were slain at Troy, and the plan of Zeus came to pass."
fragment 4
Volumina Herculan, II. viii.105.
The author of the Kypria says that Thetis, to please Hera, avoided union with Zeus, at which he was enraged and swore that she should be the wife of a mortal.
fragment 5
Scholiast on Iliad, xvii.140.
For at the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, the gods gathered together on (Mount) Pelion to feast and brought Peleus gifts. Kheiron gave him a stout ashen shaft that he had cut for a spear, and Athene, it is said, polished it, and Hephaistos fitted it with a head. The story is given by the author of the Kypria.
fragment 6
Athenaeus, xv.682D, F.
The author of the Kypria, whether Hegesias or Stasinus, mentions flowers used for garlands. The poet, whoever he was, writes as follows in his first book: "She clothed herself with garments, which the Kharites (Graces) and Horae (Hours) had made for her, and dyed in flowers of spring—such flowers as the Horae wear—in crocus and hyacinth and flourishing violet and the rose's lovely bloom, so sweet and delicious, and heavenly buds, the flowers of the narcissus and lily. In such perfumed garments is Aphrodite clothed at all seasons."
(Lacuna)
"Then laughter-loving Aphrodite and her handmaidens wove sweet-smelling crowns of flowers of the earth and put them upon their heads—the bright-coiffed goddesses, the Nymphs and Kharites (Graces), and golden Aphrodite too, while they sang sweetly on the mount of many-fountained Ida."
fragment 7
Clement of Alexandria, Protrept, ii.30.5.
"Kastor was mortal, and the fate of death was destined for him; but Polydeukes, scion of Ares, was immortal."
fragment 8
Athenaeus, viii.334B.
"And after them she bare a third child, Helen, a marvel to men. Rich-tressed Nemesis once gave her birth when she had been joined in love with Zeus the king of the gods by harsh violence. For Nemesis tried to escape him and liked not to lie in love with her father Zeus the son of Kronos; for shame and indignation vexed her heart; therefore, she fled him over the land and fruitless dark water. But Zeus ever pursued and longed in his heart to catch her. Now she took the form of a fish and sped over the waves of the loud-roaring sea, and now over Okeanos's (Ocean's) stream and the furthest bounds of Ge (Earth), and now she sped over the furrowed land, always turning into such dread creatures as the dry land nurtures, that she might escape him."
fragment 9
Scholiast on Euripides, Andromache, 898.
The writer of the Kyprian histories says that (Helen's third child was) Pleisthenes and that she took him with her to Kypros, and that the child she bore Alexandros (Paris) was Aganos.
fragment 10
Herodotos, ii.117.
For it is said in the Kypria that Alexandros (Paris) came with Helen to Ilion (Troy) from Sparta in three days, enjoying a favorable wind and calm sea.
fragment 11
Scholiast on Iliad, iii.242.
For Helen had been previously carried off by Theseus, and it was in consequence of this earlier rape that Aphidna, a town in Attica, was sacked and Kastor was wounded in the right thigh by Aphidnus who was king at that time. Then the Dioskuri (Kastor and Polydeukes), failing to find Theseus, sacked Athens. The story is in the Cyclic writers.
Plutarch, Theseus, 32.
Hereas relates that Alykos was killed by Theseus himself near Aphidna, and quotes the following verses in evidence:
"In spacious Aphidna Theseus slew him in battle long ago for rich-haired Helen's sake."
fragment 12
Scholiast on Pindar, Nemean, x.114.
"Immediately Lynkeus, trusting in his swift feet, made for Taygetos. He climbed its highest peak and looked throughout the whole isle of Pelops, son of Tantalos; and soon the glorious hero with his dread eyes saw horse-taming Kastor and athlete Polydeukes both hidden within a hollow oak."
Philodemus, On Piety.
(Stasinus?) writes that Kastor was killed with a spear shot by Idas the son of Aphareus.
fragment 13
Athenaeus, 35C.
"Menelaos, know that the gods made wine the best thing for mortal man to scatter cares."
fragment 14
Laurentian Scholiast on Sophocles, Elektra, 157.
Either he follows Homer who spoke of the three daughters of Agamemnon, or—like the writer of the Kypria—he makes them four, (distinguishing) Iphigenia and Iphianassa.
fragment 15
Contest of Homer and Hesiod.
"So they feasted all day long, taking nothing from their own houses; for Agamemnon, king of men, provided for them."
fragment 16
Louvre Papyrus.
"I never thought to enrage so terribly the stout heart of Achilles, for very well I loved him."
fragment 17
Pausanias, iv.2.7.
The poet of the Kypria says that the wife of Protesilaos who, when the Hellenes reached the Trojan shore, first dared to land was called Polydora, and was the daughter of Meleagros, the son of Oineus.
fragment 18
Eustathius, 119.4.
Some relate that Khryseis was taken from Hypoplakian Thebe, and that she had not taken refuge there nor gone there to sacrifice to Artemis, as the author of the Kypria states, but was simply a fellow townswoman of Andromakhe.
fragment 19
Pausanias, x.31.2.
I know, because I have read it in the epic Kypria, that Palamedes was drowned when he had gone out fishing, and that it was Diomedes and Odysseus who caused his death.
fragment 20
Plato, Euthyphron, 12A.
"That it is Zeus who has done this, and brought all these things to pass, you do not like to say; for where fear is, there too is shame."
fragment 21
Herodian, On Peculiar Diction.
"By him she conceived and bare the Gorgons, fearful monsters who lived on Sarpedona, a rocky island in deep-eddying Okeanos (Ocean)."
fragment 22
Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, vii.2.19.
Again, Stasinus says:
"He is a simple man who kills the father and lets the children live."