Syntipas

Syntipas[a] is the purported author of the Seven Wise Masters, a cycle of stories of Indian and Persian origin popular in medieval literature.

A Syriac version was translated into Greek by the Byzantine author Michael Andreopoulos at the end of the 11th century under the title of The Book of the Philosopher Syntipas.

In his introduction, Andreopoulos describes it as a story which “derides evildoers and, towards its end, praises righteous deeds,” thus excusing a work otherwise characterised by “exoticism and eroticism”.

In the Greek version, Syntipas is counsellor to King Cyrus and tutor to his son who, having taken a vow of silence for seven days, is accused by his stepmother of trying to seduce her.

Over successive days there follows a competition of stories and counter-stories told by the king’s advisory philosophers and the stepmother whose advances he has rejected, thus putting off the prince’s execution until he is at liberty to tell the truth.