Cypria

ἦν ὅτε μυρία φῦλα κατὰ χθόνα πλαζόμενα αἰεί

ἀνθρώπων ἐβάρυνε βαθυστέρνου πλάτος αἴης.
—The Cypria[1]

The first installment in The Trojan Cycle, a lost work.

The odd title has absolutely nothing to do with Troy (the reason the Iliad is titled as such is because "Ilion" was one of the names for Troy.), and instead suggests that the epic came from Cyprus. Like the following epics, its author is unknown. It is believed to have been written sometime in the sixth century BC.

The Cypria (Κύπρια) opens with Zeus discussing the Trojan War, which has not yet occurred. This seems to refer to the myth that Zeus planned the Theban and Trojan Wars in order to relieve the earth of an unsustainable population.

So he encourages events -- Strife's interruption at Peleus and Thetis's wedding, the Judgement of Paris -- to lead to the Trojan War. The Cypria then follows the abduction of Helen and the Achaean's haphazard attempt to come together and attack Troy.

They get lost, attack the wrong place, and are scattered by a storm. When they finally reconvene, Agamemnon annoys Artemis and is forced to sacrifice his daughter to her (except the goddess relents and whisks her away instead).

At first this second attempt to reach Troy doesn't go well: a warrior, Philoctetes, is bitten by a water snake and left behind on Lemnos because his comrades can't stand the stench of his wounds. So much for No One Gets Left Behind. But eventually the Achaeans do make it to Troy, and the Cypria follows the events of the war up until the last year, which is then related in the Iliad and following epics.

Ancient fragments on the Cypria, including Proclus's summary, are available in English here.

The Cypria likely provided examples of:
Works derived from the myths of the Cypria:
  • Aeschylus's
    • Iphigenia, a lost play on the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis.
    • Telephos, a lost play likely about Telephos, who was wounded and then healed by Achilles when the Achaeans made their first attempt to sail to Troy.
  • Euripides's
    • Iphigenia in Aulis, recounting how she was lured to Aulis and seemingly sacrificed.
    • Iphigenia in Tauris, following her life after Artemis whisks her away to Tauris.
    • Alexandros, possibly: the play has been lost, but it seems to have followed Paris's life and return to Troy before he set sail for Sparta.
    • Protesilaus, a lost play about the aftermath of Protesilaus's death. His wife, Laodamea, was allowed to converse with him briefly after he died, but he was forced to return to the Underworld. She then made an image of him to love, but when her father burned it, she committed suicide on the pyre.
    • Scyrians, a lost play concerned with Thetis's hiding Achilles among the daughters of the king of Scyros (knowing that if he went to Troy, he would die), and Odysseus's discovery of him there.
    • Telephos, a lost play and Euripides's version of the story of Telephos, also recounted by Aeschylus.
  • Sophocles's
    • The Gathering of the Achaeans, which has also been lost and was probably a satyr play, concerned with the gathering of the Achaeans at Tenedos before setting sail for Troy.
    • Alexandros, a lost play probably similar to Euripides's Alexandros, focused on Paris's childhood and his recognition as a son of Priam.
    • Judgement, yet another lost play, in this case a satyr play on the Judgement of Paris.
    • Odysseus, a lost play about Odysseus's feigned madness and his discovery by Palamedes.
    • Palamedes, a lost play apparently following the aftermath of Palamedes's death (who had tricked Odysseus into revealing his fake madness so that he would fight at Troy).
    • The Shepherds, also lost and thought to have been a satyr play. It followed the Achaean's arrival at Troy and the death of Protesilaus and Kyknos.
    • Troilos, a lost play on the death of Troilos by Achilles.
  1. ↑ There was a time when the countless races of men roaming always over the land / were weighing down the deep-breasted earth’s expanse.
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