Stesichorus (,
Stesikhoros, c. 640 – 555 BC) was the first great lyric poet of the West. He is best known for telling epic stories in lyric metres but he is also famous for some ancient traditions about his life, such as his opposition to the tyrant
Phalaris, and the blindness he is said to have incurred and cured by composing verses first insulting and then flattering to
Helen of Troy. He was ranked among the
nine lyric poets esteemed by the scholars of
Hellenistic Alexandria and yet his work attracted relatively little interest among ancient commentators, so that remarkably few fragments of his poetry now survive. As one scholar observed in 1967: "Time has dealt more harshly with Stesichorus than with any other major lyric poet." Recent discoveries, recorded on Egyptian papyrus (notably and controversially, the
Lille Stesichorus), have led to some improvements in our understanding of his work, confirming his role as a link between
Homer's epic narrative and the lyric narrative of poets like
Pindar.