Philostephanus
Sign in to savePhilostephanus of Cyrene (Philostephanus Cyrenaeus) () was a Hellenistic writer from North Africa, who was a pupil of the poet Callimachus in Alexandria and doubtless worked there during the 3rd century BC.
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Philostephanus of Cyrene (Philostephanus Cyrenaeus) () was a Hellenistic writer from North Africa, who was a pupil of the poet Callimachus in Alexandria and doubtless worked there during the 3rd century BC.
His history of Cyprus, De Cypro, written during the reign of Ptolemy Philopator (222–206 BC), has been lost, but it was known to at least two Christian writers, Clement of Alexandria and Arnobius. It contained a narration of the story of the mythical Pygmalion, of Cyprus, who fashioned a cult image of the Greek goddess Aphrodite that came to life. Ovid depended on the account by Philostephanus for his dramatised and expanded version in Metamorphoses, through which the Pygmalion myth was transmitted to the medieval and modern world.