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[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] (Ἔριφος; Ériphos). Poet of the Middle Comedy of whom three titles of works and seven fragments have still survived. In the Μελίβοια ( Melíboia), E. appears to have taken up verses of  Antiphanes [1] and varied them (fr. 2; cf. Antiphanes fr. 59); in Πελταστής ( Peltastḗs), a miles gloriosus probably appeared (fr. 6 [2. 326f.]). Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 1986, 178-182 2 H.-G. Nesselrath, Die att. Mittlere Komödie, 1990.

[German version] A writer of comedies who is known to us only through inscriptions and who once won first prize in the comedy contest at the Athenian Lenaea [1. test. 3] and came third on each occasion in 167 and 154 BC at the great Dionysia [1. test. 1, 2]. From each of those last two contests only the title of B.'s entry is known (‘The ignorant one , ‘The poet). Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG IV, 1983, 36.

[German version] (Δαμόξενος; Damóxenos). Attic comedic author of the 3rd cent. BC, known to have been victorious at the Dionysia once [1. Testimonia 2]. There is evidence for two plays. His Σύντροφοι contains the longest speech by a cook preserved in a comedy (fr. 2: 68 verses); the speaker presents himself as a disciple of Democritus and more especially of Epicurus and is scornful of everyone who is not, even the Stoics. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 1986, 1-7.

[German version] A writer of comedies from Ephesus, who is known only from inscriptions [1] and who at the beginning of the 1st cent. BC was the winner at the Ludi Romani in Magnesia on the Maeander with a Milesia. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG II, 1991, 1.

[German version] (Ἀμφις; Ámphis) Attic comic poet possibly from the island of Andros [1. test.], whose writings can only be approximately dated to 350 BC and some time thereafter [2. 197]. Of the 28 titles of works that are preserved, a quarter relate to mythical subjects, amongst these is a reworking of the Callisto story; A. appears to have altered this story in a very unconventional way [2. 234]. Furthermore A. has not forgotten the Attic reality in his works: he deals derisively with the philos…

[German version] (Μάχων; Máchōn) from Sicyon or Corinth; lived at the time of Apollodorus [5] of Carystus (3rd cent. BC) [1. test. 1] and was active as a writer in Alexandria, also the place of his death. M. wrote Χρεῖαι ( Chreîai, ‘Anecdotes’) in iambic trimeter (of which a total of about 470 are extant in Ath. Deipnosophistaí XIII) about hetaerae, parasites and poets (Diphilus, Euripides, Philoxenus), as well as important political figures (Ptolemy, Demetrius Poliorcetes); the material, in which sex plays a certain role, comes from anecdotal prose w…

[German version] (Δεινολόχος; Deinolóchos). Writer of Doric Comedy, in our sources dated to the 73rd Olympiad (488-485 BC) and attested as the son or pupil [1. Test. 1], but also the rival [1. Test. 2], of  Epicharmus. He is supposed to have written 14 plays; thanks to a papyrus [2. no. 78] the sum of known titles by him has now grown to 12, of which ten suggest a mythical theme. Scarcely anything more can be said about the content and structure of these plays (except that they were probably comparable with those of Epicharmus). A single fragment of verse survives. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Gö…

[German version] (Παράμονος; Parámonos). Attic comic writer who won third place at the Dionysia of 183 BC, sixth place at those held in 169 and who was posthumously awarded first place at the Dionysia of 167 [1. test. 1-3]. Only two titles of plays, Ναυαγός (Nauagós; 'the Shipwrecked') and Χορηγῶν ('The Sponsor), are extant. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 101.

[German version] (Πυρρήν; Pyrrhḗn). 4th century BC Attic comic poet, who was victorious at the Lenaea on one occasion; nothing else is known. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography PCG VII, 1989, 583.

[German version] (Ἀναξανδρίδης; Anaxandrídēs). An Attic writer of comedies from Rhodes or [1. test. 1] Colophon (apparently he also produced dithyrambs [1. test. 2]), of whom, thanks to IGUR 218 [1. test. 5], more exact dates are known than of any other of his rivals: from this inscription it is clear that A. was an active theatre poet at least between 376 and 349 BC and also in the years in-between frequently performed; even earlier was the Protesilaus, which reflects the great wedding of the Athenian general Iphicrates to a Thracian princess (an event of the early 380s…

[German version] With few exceptions [2.220] all scenes in the manuscripts of Plautus’ plays that are written in iambic senarii bear the direction diverbium (cf. Donat. II p. 5 W.), marking those sections of the play to be performed without musical accompaniment (cf. Plautus Stichus 758-768: the metre changes to the iambic senarius during a pause by the flautist). The oldest testimony (Liv. 7,2,10) confirms this. In late antiquity the grammarian Diomedes (1,491,22-24) was alone in taking diverbium in its literal Greek sense of ‘dialogue’ (and  canticum as ‘monologue’ [2. 220]). Nesse…

[German version] (Ἐτεαγόρας; Eteagóras). Writer of comedy in the 3rd cent. BC; one comedy is epigraphically attested to have won the Lenaea. Neither the titles nor fragments of his plays have survived. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography PCG V, 183.

[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.

[German version] Writer of comedies in the 3rd cent. BC (cf. the not entirely compelling epigraphical evidence [1. test.]), of which the sole surviving fragment consists of a -- textually uncertain -- invocation of Hecate in versus paroemiaci (from Halysis, ‘The Chain, ‘The Magical Bond?). Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG IV, 1983, 70f.

[German version] In the Plautus manuscripts, all scenes in a metre other than the iambic senarius were headed canticum (re exceptions see [3. 220, note]), i.e. all parts accompanied by music (cf. Plaut. Stich. 758-768: while the flute player had a break for a drink, the metre changed to the senarius). Canticum therefore also includes parts that consisted of trochaic and iambic septenarii and octonarii arranged side by side and was generally understood as recitatives (cf. however [3]); canticum in the narrower sense (described by Donat. comm. Adelph. praef. 1,7 as MMC = Mutatis Modis Ca…

[German version] (παράσιτος/ parásitos; Latin parasitus). The Greek word parásitos was initially a designation for temple servants who participated in banquets in honour of the respective deity (cf. Ath. 6,234c-235e), and also for others who enjoyed official dining (Plut. Solon 24,5; cf. [7. 12]). It was Athenian comedy writers who transferred the term, perhaps before the middle of the 4th cent. BC, to stage figures who tried to obtain meals at other people's tables by all means possible (witty conversat…

[German version] (Χιόννης; Chiónnēs). Writer of comedies, from 1st cent. BC Thebes; known only from inscriptions; he was victor at the Amphiareia and the Rhomaea in Oropus [1. test.]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG IV, 1983, 77.

[German version] (Σκίρας/Skíras). Poet of 'Italic comedy' [1. test. 1] from Tarentum, who in a late record [1. test. 2] is, along with the phlyakes poet Rhinthon and the poet (of Menippian satire?) Blaesus named as a Pythagorean, which is not very credible. Of his work, only two iambic trimeters from the mythological play Μελέαγρος (Meléagros) have survived, a parody of Eur. Hipp. 75f. Hardly any clues exist regarding S.' biographical dates. He is usually associated with Rhinthon (c. 300 BC) Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 CGF 190.

[German version] (Φλύακες; Phlýakes). According to the Hellenistic historian Sosibius Laconus (FGrH 595 F 7) the usual term in Graeca Magna for the performers of a local variety of Doric folk burlesque. In antiquity the name is usually derived from φλυαρεῖν/ phlyareîn, 'talk nonsense' (Hsch. s.v.; cf. Poll. 9,149). A derivation from φλέω/ phléō, 'teem, abound' is probably more correct. Phleon (and similar forms) is an old epithet for Dionysus as god of vegetation [2]. Since the late 19th cent. [4. 52], the P. plays have been connected with the representations of comic …