Parthenius of Nicaea was a Greek grammarian and poet born in Bithynia. Ancient sources offer conflicting details about his family background, with the Suda recording him as the son of Heraclides and Eudora while Hermippus of Berytus claims his mother's name was Tetha.
Helvius Cinna captured Parthenius of Nicaea as a prisoner of war during the Mithridatic Wars and transported him across the sea to Rome in 66 BC. This captivity marked the beginning of his life as an enslaved intellectual in Italy before he traveled to Neapolis.
The only surviving work by Parthenius of Nicaea is titled Erotica Pathemata or Of the Sorrows of Love. The text contains thirty-six epitomes of love-stories with tragic endings that function as a storehouse for later poets to draw material from.
Parthenius of Nicaea stands among the few ancient writers whose entire corpus survives in a single manuscript known as Palatinus Heidelbergensis graecus 398 or P. Scholars date this unique document to the mid-9th century AD, containing a diverse mixture of geography and excerpts alongside his texts.
The first printed edition appeared in Basle in 1531 edited by Janus Cornarius. An Editio princeps Graeca followed in 1601 within a collection of love romances, leading to subsequent editions throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.