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[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] (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] (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.

[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 …

[German version] Writer of comedies, attested only epigraphically; he evidently once won first prize at the Attic Dionysia [1. test. *2], and also in 154 BC second place at the Great Dionysia with the play ‘The false self-accuser [1. test. 1]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG IV, 1983, 69.

[German version] (Θυμοτέλης; Thymotélēs). Athenian comic poet of the late 2nd cent. BC recorded only in inscriptions; nothing is known of his work. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG 7, 1989, 753.

[German version] [1] see Little-master cup see  Little-master cup Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) [German version] [2] Attic comic poet There is epigraphical evidence only of this Attic writer of comedies who, in 181 BC (earlier than Eudoxus), probably won the agon of comedies at the Great Dionysia [1. test. 2], and was also twice a winner at the Lenaea [1. test. 1]. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG II, 1991, 537.

[German version] (Θουγενίδης; Thougenídes). Poet of the Old Comedy (I. C.); it is uncertain whether he was on the list of victors at the Dionysia in fifth place after Cratinus [1. test. *1]. Of his only recorded play, Δικασταί ( Dikastaí, ‘The Judges), two short fragments survive; five other play fragments without titles are also uninformative. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 750-752.

[German version] (Σαννυρίων/ Sannyríōn). Attic comedic poet of the end of the 5th cent. BC, mocked by his competitors for his skinniness [1. test. 3]. The titles of three plays and 13 fragments with a total of eight and a half verses have been handed down: the Γέλως ( Gélōs, 'Laughter') featured a talking god (fr. 1) and mocked the tragedian Meletus [3] (fr. 2) and Aristophanes [3] (fr. 5); in the Δανάη ( Danáē), dated to 407-404 BC, Zeus considers what shape would be best for him to get to his Danae and in the process makes fun of the tragedic actor Hegelochus (fr. 8); the Ἰώ ( Iṓ), also on a mythical…

[German version] A bon viveur and poet originally from Lindus in Rhodes, who was the first person to use collated poetic (dithyrambic?) expressions and is said to have written ‘comedies’ as well as many other works; Jacoby (in FGrH 527 F 2) doubts his actual existence. A.'s period cannot be determined more precisely; he is said to have been a ‘relative’ of Cleobulus of Lindus, one of the Seven Sages. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 SH, 1983, no. 46 2 PCG II, 1991, 307.

[German version] Attic comic poet documented only through a short article in the Suda [1. test.]; the Suda counts him as belonging to the Middle Comedy and lists three titles of plays. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG IV, 1983, 17.

[German version] (Πανδαίτης; Pandaítēs). Attic comic writer of the 3rd cent. BC only attested in inscriptions on the Lenaean victors' list. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography PCG VII, 1989, 100.

[German version] (παράβασις, parábasis; Lat. parabasis). Characteristic component peculiar to Old Attic comedy, recognizable in the plays of Aristophanes [3] and in fragments of other comedic poets (no certain evidence before Cratinus [4. 24]). The term derives from parabaínein (παραβαίνειν πρὸς τὸ θέατρον, 'stepping towards the audience'), with which Aristophanes's chorus repeatedly begins the parabasis (Aristoph. Ach. 629; Equ. 508; Pax 735): they also divest themselves of parts of their clothing (Ach. 627) or other accessories (Pax 729), while …

[German version] (Ὀνησικλῆς; Onēsiklês). Author of unknown date, documented only in inscriptions in Cilicia, who was a poet of various genres (epic, New Comedy, iambic poetry) as well as a writer of prose encomia. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG VII, 1989, 96.

[German version] (Ὠφελίων/ Ōphelíōn). Attic comedian from the 4th cent. BC. The titles of four plays have survived (Δευκαλίων/ Deukalíōn; Ἰάλεμος/ Iálemos or ‘Simple Simon; Κάλλαισχρος/ Kállaischros - it is unclear from this name whether the play is about a historical or fictitious person; Κένταυρος/ Kéntauros). There are six fragments extant which are ineffectual except for fragment 3 (parody of Plato). Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography PCG VII, 1989, 97-99.

[German version] (Εὐθίας; Euthías). Attic comic poet, who came second in a contest around the mid 4th cent. BC [1. test.]. Of his plays, neither titles nor fragments are extant. Nesselrath, Heinz-Günther (Göttingen) Bibliography 1 PCG V, 540.

[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] 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] (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…