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[German version] (Σωσίθεος/ Sōsítheos) from Alexandria [2] in the Troad, Satyr playwright and tragedian of the Pleias, first half of the 3rd century BC (TrGF I 99). According to the Suda (σ 860) he is also supposed to have written poetry and prose (T 1). In a fictitious burial epigram Dioscurides [3] (Anth. Pal. 7,707 = T 2) praises him as a reviver of the satyr play, taking his direction from Pratinas. 24 verses survive from Daphnis or Lityerses, presumably a satyr play, about the love of Daphnis and the nymph Thalia, their being taken prisoner by Lityerses and presumabl…

[German version] (also anagnorismos: ἡ ἀναγνώρισις, ὁ ἀναγνωρισμός; hē anagnṓrisis, ho anagnōrismós). According to Aristot. Poet. 11,1452a-b, anagnorisis is the technical term for the ‘Recognition’ in drama. Aristotle defined anagnorisis as a transition from unknowing into knowing, with the effect that friendship is changed into enmity and vice versa. To him, that anagnorisis is the most dramatic, which occurs simultaneously with   peripeteia . Aristotle differentiated three varieties of anagnorisis with reference to the object: the recognition of persons, of ina…

[German version] (Φιλοξενίδης; Philoxenídēs) from Oropos, writer of satyr plays; after 85 BC he achieved success at the Amphiaraea and Romaea festivals in Oropus (TrGF I 170). Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg)

[German version] ‘Soliloquy’ (the term ‘monologue’ is not of ancient origin; it was only Augustinus who coined the term soliloquium, cf. Aug. retract. 1,4,1), special form of speech ( rhḗsis ) found in various literary genres. In distinguishing monologue in its proper sense from other forms of rhḗseis, such as a messenger's report (messenger scenes), the criterion should not be the length of the monologue, but only the communication situation [4. 180 f.]: the solitude or isolation of the speaker, who is not addressing his speech to a listene…

[German version] (Ζωτίων; Zōtíōn) from Ephesus. Only the name of this Greek tragic poet from the middle of the 2nd cent. BC is recorded (TrGF I 133). Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg)

[German version] (ἡ περιπέτεια/ hē peripéteia). Literally 'turn-about, reversal' of a situation, mostly of fate, often unexpected and as a rule from good to bad (e.g. Aristot. Rhet. 1371b 10). The concept is central to Aristotle's Poetics (Poet. 11,1452a 22-29), where P. is defined as the reversal of what was to be achieved into its opposite. This should happen by probability (κατὰ τὸ εἰκός) or by necessity (κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον). Together with  anagnorisis P. is a characteristic of complex narrative structures ('plots', μῦθοι πεπλεγ…

[German version] (ὁ διθύραμβος; dithýrambos). Choral song in honour of  Dionysus. The origin and meaning of this term has caused much speculation since ancient times. The word itself is certainly not a Greek, perhaps a Phrygian composition; most likely from a combination of íambos (ἴαμβος; two-step) and thríambos (θρίαμβος; three-step) [1]. In a contested passage of his Poetics (Aristot. Poet. 4,1449a 10-13) Aristotle makes the dithyramb the harbinger of tragedy ─ or, say others [2], of comedy. Three phases can be distinguished in the history of the genre: the pre-litera…

[German version] (ἡ τετραλογία/ hē tetralogía). Originally a technical term in rhetoric to describe four speeches treating the same case from different perspectives (Antiphon [4] A.), later also used to summarize the Platonic dialogues in groups of four (Diog. Laert. 3,57; Plato [1] C. 1. - 2.). Since the Hellenistic era, philology has used the term primarily for four theatre pieces connected by content: three tragedies (Trilogy) and one satyr play [2. 80 f.]. The 'originator' of the tetralogy was probably Aeschylus [1]; his Oresteia (458 BC) survives (without the satyr play)…

[German version] (μονῳδία; m onōidía). Monody and the verb μονῳδεῖν ( monōideîn) are found already in the 5th century BC as technical terms used to describe solo arias by actors in drama (Aristoph. Pax 1012; Aristoph. Thesm. 1077; Aristoph. Ran. 849; 944; 1330). Occasionally they are equated with Threnos, as a notable component of the arias, the complaint (see Aristoph. Vesp. 317-323), was transferred to the whole structural element, as is also the case with antiphonal songs (Kommos [2], Amoibaion). M. are the musical high points in the tragedies of Euripides [1] in particular. According…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Lycii, Lycia | Education / Culture (Ἀντίφελλος; Antíphellos). Lycian harbour town, modern Kas̨; it may have originally been named Habesos (Plin. HN 5,100). In the 5th/4th cents. BC, A. belonged to  Phellus, was listed in Ps.-Scyl. 100 as πόλις καὶ λιμήν ( pólis kai limḗn, town and port), and, in the 2nd cent. BC, minted its own coins as an independent polis within the Lycian Confederacy [1; 2]. Municipal offices and institutions reveal Rhodian influence, originating from the Rhod…

[German version] Generally antiphonal singing (Theoc. 8,31), also dialogue in tragedy (Pl. Resp. 394b), today terminologically established as antiphonal singing in the drama. In the listing of the components of the tragedy in ‘Poetics’ (12,1452b 22) Aristotle differentiates songs for the stage (τὰ ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς) and kommoi as special cases. Whereas in the first instance only the actors are involved (monodies, duets), with the kommoi the collaboration of actors and chorus is decisive. As, however, not all antiphonal singing between choir and actor(s) can be d…

[German version] The return of the chorus after it had left the orchestra during the performance of a play (μετάστασις χοροῦ; metástasis choroû, cf. Poll. 4,108), as in: Aesch. Eum. 231, 244; Soph. Aj. 814, 866 ; Eur. Alc. 746, 861, Hel. 385, 515, Rhes. 564, 674 ; Aristoph. Eccl. 310, 478.  Parodos Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) Bibliography O. Taplin, The Stagecraft of Aeschylus, 1977, 377-381.

[German version] (τὸ ἐπεισόδιον; tó epeisódion, from the adjective ἐπεισόδιος; epeisódios, ‘inserted’). According to Aristot. Poet. 12,1452b 20f. part of a tragedy between two entire chorus parts (that is between the  parodos and the first   stasimon or between two stasima). The term epeisodion is found as a technical term only in the Poetica, other authors speak of a méros or mórion. Aristotle also uses the terminus epeisodion in the Poetica in a more general sense for ‘section’, ‘episode’ (e.g. 17,1455b 13 Aristot. Poet. 17,1455b 2.15.18.27.). In the Old Comedy,…

[German version] (Πρατίνας/ Pratínas) of Phlius (in the Peloponnese), according to the Suda π 2230 (TrGF I 4 T 1) the inventor of the satyr play; son of a Pyrrhonides or Encomius (descriptive names: son of a 'red-head' or of 'a member of a - Dionysian - komos'; on the red hair and beards of satyrs cf. Dioscorides, Anth. Pal. 7,707,3 and  Soph. Ichn. 358). Two dates are attested for his life: between 499 and 496 he entered a tragedic agon against Aeschylus [1] and Choerilus [2] (T 1); and 467 is a  terminus ante quem for his death: that year his son Aristias [2] entered with plays by P. ('…

[English version] Abgeleitet von dem vorwiegend im Att. belegten Verb δρᾶν ist das Subst. τὸ δρᾶμα (“Handlung”, “Tat” im allg. Sinne) dem “Leid” (πάθος/ páthos) entgegengesetzt (Aischyl. Ag. 533); ferner kann es “Pflicht”, “Aufgabe” bedeuten (Plat. Tht. 150a, rep. 451cPlat. rep. 451c). Vorwiegend jedoch bedeutet D. als t.t. “Theaterstück” (Trag., Komödie, Satyrspiel) im Hinblick auf seine Aufführung (Aristoph. Ran. 920); als Stücktitel im Pl. erscheint D. in Aristophanes' Δράματα ἢ Νίοβος ( Drā́mata ē Níobos; fr. 289-298 PCG III2; fr. 299-304 PCG III2), bei Telekleides fr. 41…

[English version] (Θεὸς ἀπὸ μηχανῆς). Bereits im 4. Jh.v.Chr. sprichwörtlich gewordene kranartige Bühnenmaschine (μηχανή, γέρανος, κράδη), an der schwebend und die Luft durchquerend eine Gottheit plötzlich erscheinen und der Handlung neue Impulse verleihen oder sie zu Ende bringen konnte (vgl. Plat. Kleit. 407a; Krat. 425d; Antiphanes 189,13-16 PCG; Alexis 131,9 PCG; Men. Theophorumene fr. 5 Sandbach = 227 Körte; Cic. nat. deor. 1,53). Ihr Einsatz ist durch die Parodien des Aristophanes (Pax 174ff…

[English version] (Φίλικος) von Kerkyra (Korfu). Dichter und Tragiker, Dionysospriester in Alexandreia z.Z. Ptolemaios' II. Philadelphos (285-246 v.Chr.). Mitglied der Pleias, oft mit Philiskos [4] von Aigina (TrGF I 89) verwechselt (TrGF I 104 T1, T4). Von den ihm zugeschriebenen 24 Tragödien ist nichts erhalten. Von einem Demeter-Hymnos in stichischen katalektischen choriambischen Hexametern ist eine große Partie überl. (SH 676-680), in der Demeter über den Verlust der Tochter mit der Aussicht a…

[English version] (ἡ περιπέτεια). Wörtl. “Umschwung”, “Umkehrung” der Situation, zumeist des Schicksals, häufig unerwartet und in der Regel vom Guten zum Schlechten (z.B. Aristot. rhet. 1371b 10). Zentral ist der Begriff in der ‘Poetik des Aristoteles (poet. 11,1452a 22-29), wo P. als der Umschlag dessen, was erreicht werden sollte, in sein Gegenteil definiert wird, wobei dies nach Wahrscheinlichkeit (κατὰ τὸ εἰκός) oder Notwendigkeit (κατὰ τὸ ἀναγκαῖον) geschehen müsse. P. ist zusammen mit der Anagnorisis ein Charakteristikum von komplexen Handlungsstrukturen ( plots; μῦθο…

[English version] Längere Rhesis im Drama, in der den anderen Personen oder dem Chor hinter- oder außerszenische, vor oder während der dramatischen Handlung geschehene Ereignisse, die nach den Möglichkeiten oder Konventionen des att. Theaters nicht darstellbar sind, mitgeteilt werden. Diese nach allen Mitteln der Rhet. ausgestatteten Berichte werden entweder von einer Haupt- oder Nebenfigur (Eur. Heraclid. 389ff; Soph. El. 680ff.), sehr häufig jedoch von eigens zu diesem Zweck eingeführten, namenl…

[English version] (ἡ κάθαρσις). Allg. bedeutet K., abgeleitet von καθαίρειν ( kathaírein, “reinigen”), jede Art von Reinigung und Beseitigung von sichtbarer (Schmutz) wie unsichtbarer Unreinheit (rel. Besudelung: míasma, vgl. Hdt. 1,35; Aristot. poet. 17,1455b 15). In der 2. H. des 5. Jh.v.Chr. wurde der Begriff als med. t.t. für die Entfernung von schädlichen Stoffen aus dem menschlichen Körper oder der Seele verwendet (LSJ, s.v. κ. II). Die kult.-rituelle und med.-psychologische Bed. fließen zusammen in dem in der Forsch. seit …