Stesichorus: Fragments

Fragments collects the surviving fragments of Stesichorus, the Greek lyric poet of the late seventh and early sixth centuries BC, associated with Himera in Sicily. His works, long narrative songs on mythical subjects in a literary Doric dialect, are lost. They survive in quotations and reports by later authors such as Athenaeus and Strabo, and in a few papyrus scraps, among them an ancient commentary on his Palinodes. This set covers many poems, including the Geryoneis, the Sack of Troy, the Oresteia and the famous Palinode on Helen.

Stesichorus was counted among the nine canonical lyric poets and was said to be the most Homeric of them. He retold epic stories in lyric form and shaped versions of myth that later poets and artists followed, such as Helen's phantom at Troy. These fragments are the main evidence for his range, his style and his influence on Greek tragedy and art.