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[German version] Said to be an early Attic writer of comedies (neither names of plays nor fragments have been preserved), considered variously a contemporary of Euetes [2] and Euxenides in the time of Epicharmus [1. test. 1], or of Susarion and Magnes [3] [1. test. 2]; elsewhere an actor M. is mentioned who supposedly used masks dyed with minium [1. test. 5]. Perhaps M. owes his existence only to a verse by Cratinus [1] (fr. 96 K.-A.) that seems to concern a comic figure (comparable to Maison?) wh…

[German version] (Σουσαρίων/ Sousaríōn). Allegedly the earliest Attic comic poet [1. test. 1] and even the inventor of comedy [1. test. 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9]. His origin is given as either the Attic deme of Icaria (Icarium; [1. test. 1, 2], cf. [1. test. 7]) or Tripodiscus in the region of Megara [2] [1. test. 8 and 10]. Different versions of the origins of comedy are connected with these: Icaria as the location of an ancient cult of Dionysus would point to an autochthonous Attic basis for comedy, M…

[German version] (Εὐξενίδης; Euxenídēs). Comic poet, whose plays were reputedly performed in Athens at the time of Epicharmus (still before the Second Persian War) [1. test.]; nothing of them has survived. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 544.

[German version] (Εὐμήδης; Eumḗdēs). Comic poet of the 3rd cent. BC ─ two victories at the Lenaea are attested for him in an inscription; on the list of prize-winners his name is entered after that of  Diodorus [10], the brother of  Diphilus [5] [1st test.]. Of his Σφαττόμενος ( Sphattómenos; ‘The Tormented One’) only one fragment in an extremely poor condition is extant. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 277.

[German version] (Χιωνίδης; Chiōnídēs). Earliest Attic comedy-writer known by name. As πρωταγωνιστής, prōtagōnistḗs (the sense of the term as used here is disputed [2. 132]) of the Old  Comedy, C. is said to have had a play performed as early as ‘eight years before the Persian wars’ (i.e. 486 BC counting inclusively) [1. test. 1]; this date is usually regarded as the beginning of the state-organized comedic agones at the Great Dionysia [2. 82]. Aristotle, too, places C., along with  Magnes, at the beginnings of Attic Comedy [1. test. 2]. Three titles of plays …

[German version] (Φερεκράτης; Pherekrátēs). Important poet of Attic Old Comedy. First worked as an actor [1, testimony 2a], his own performances beginning after Cratinus [1] and Crates [1], but before Hermippus [1], Phrynichus [3], Aristophanes [3], Eupolis (cf. [1, testimony 2a, 5, 6]). There is a reference to a victory (it is unclear in which agon) for 437 BC [1, testimony 2a]; the Lenaea victory list ascribes two victories to P. [1, testimony 6]. He is said to have written 17 [1, testimony 1] or…

(Ἐπίχαρμος; Epícharmos). Earliest and most important writer of Doric comedy. [German version] A. Life Widely varying accounts are given for his origin: Syracuse, the Sicanian city of Crastus or Samos [1. test.1], Cos [1. test. 1. 3] or Megara Hyblaea in Sicily [1. test. 1. 2] have been mentioned; it is most probably a place in Sicily. Establishing dates for E. has to rely on the following details: he is said to have been active as a playwright ‘six years before the Persian Wars’, i.e. 486/5 BC [1. test. 1], o…

[German version] (Εὐφάνης; Euphánēs). Writer of Middle Comedy who is entered on the list of victors of the Lenaea directly before  Alexis [1. test. 1] and for whom two play titles and two fragments are attested; fr. 1 from the Μοῦσαι ( Moûsai; ‘The Muses’) presents a number of contemporary Athenian gluttons. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 280f.

[German version] (Εὐάγγελος; Euángelos). Comic poet of the 3rd cent. BC (uncertain), of whose Ἀνακαλυπτομένη ( Anakalyptoménē) a fragment in trochaic tetrameters has survived: the master of the house and a cook make preparations for a wedding. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 184f.

[German version] (Εὐθυκλῆς; Euthyklês). Poet of the late Old Comedy (?). Two titles of plays and two fragments are extant. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 541f.

[German version] (Εύνικος; Eúnikos) Poet of Attic Old Comedy, of whom we have two play titles (and two fragments, the second uncertain). For a play about hetaerae, Ἄντεια/ Ánteia (test. ii), Philyllius is also cited as the author while for the Πόλεις/ Póleis Philyllius and Aristophanes are also named as authors. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG 5, 278f.

[German version] Attic writer of comedies, who is known to us only by way of inscription [1] and who, shortly before  Timocles, won a victory at the Lenaea comedy contest with a play that is no longer known to us; he is probably therefore to be assigned to the period after the middle of the 4th cent. BC. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG II, 1991, 16.

[German version] (Ῥίνθων/ Rhínthōn). Poet, composer of literary Phlyakes plays (of which he is said to have written 38 [1. test. 2 and 3]), from Syracuse [1. test. 1], active at Tarentum [1. test. 2 and 3] in the reign of Ptolemy I (Ptolemaeus [1]) (322-283 BC, reigned from 305). Of nine surviving titles, eight are identifiable as parodies of tragedies by Euripides [1]: Ἀμφιτρύων/ Amphitryon , Ἡρακλῆς/ Heracles , Ἰφιγένεια ἁ ἐν Αὐλίδι/ Iphigeneia at Aulis, Ἰφιγένεια ἁ ἐν Ταύροις/ Iphigeneia among the Taurians, Δοῦλος Μελέαγρος/ Meleager the Slave, Μήδεια/ Medea , Ὀρέστας/ Orestes , Τήλεφο…

[German version] (Προκλείδης; Prokleídēs). Attic comedic poet, victorious at the Dionysia in 332 BC [1. test. 1] and at an agon at the Lenaea [1. test. 2]; otherwise nothing is known. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 582.

[German version] Poet of the Attic New Comedy, who in 311 BC at the comedy agon of the Greater Dionysia gained third place with an Ἀπολείπουσα [1 test. 2] and in 280 BC participated in comedy performances on Delos [1 test. 3]. Also a victory in the comedy competition of the Lenaea is attested for him [1 test. 1]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG II, 1991, 196.

[German version] (Ἄλεξις; Álexis). Writer of Attic comedies from Thurii in Lower Italy, who is said to have been the uncle and teacher of  Menander [1. test. 1.2]. A victory in the comedy contest at the great Dionysia of 347 BC is the earliest concrete evidence of A.'s career [1. test. 6], although there are references to his conducting performances even earlier: on the inscription listing the winners of the Lenaea he appears only four places after  Antiphanes [1. test. 8]; fr. 19 has the bad writer…

[German version] (Ἀναξίλας; Anaxílas) Attic writer of comedies, who can be dated only on the basis of a few pieces of circumstantial evidence in his fragments to approximately the middle of the 4th cent. BC and thereafter [2. 199 f.]. 22 titles of plays (of which about a quarter relate to mythical themes) and also 30 verse fragments are preserved of A.'s works, including one in dactylo-epitrites (fr. 12), one in glyconic (fr. 13) and one in anapestic ‘dimeters’. In at least three works, there are derisive thrusts against Plato (frs. 5, 14, 26), in the Euandria, A. makes fun of Demosthene…

(Εὔπολις; Eúpolis). Apart from Aristophanes and Cratinus, the most important writer of Attic Old Comedy, son of Sosipolis. [German version] A. Life E. is said to have already begun his performances at the age of 17 [1. test. 1]; varying times for his debut are stated: in 429 [1. test. 2a], 427 [1. test. 6a], 426 [1. test. 6b] or between 427 and 424 BC [1. test. 7. 8]. The epigraphical lists of the winners at the Dionysia and the Lenaea show that he began his performances about the same time as  Aristophanes (or short…

[German version] (Φόρμις/ Phórmis) or Phormus (Φόρμος/ Phórmos in Ath. 14,652a; Them. Or. 27 p. 337b; Suda ε 2766, φ 609 = [1. test. 1]). P. was a Syracusan, and like his contemporary Epicharmus, a poet of comic dramas, allegedly also tutor to the sons of the tyrant Gelon [1. test. 1]. This, however, may rest upon a confusion with a military commander of the same name (Paus. 5,27,1 and 7). Aristotle declares P. and Epicharmus inventors of the coherent comic plot [1. test. 2]. The seven plays ascribed to him (no fragments survive) seem to have dealt with mostly mythical subjects. Nesselrath, Hein…

[German version] (Εὐάγης; Euágēs). Comic poet, life dates unknown, from the island of Hydrea (near Troezen). It is supposed that E. started out as an uneducated shepherd, but then turned into a comic poet of good repute [1. test.]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 183.