(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 scenes on South Ita…