Epigenes of Athens

Last updated

Epigenes of Athens (Greek : Ἐπιγένης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος, c. 4th century BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the middle comedy.

Greek language language spoken in Greece, Cyprus and Southern Albania

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It has the longest documented history of any living Indo-European language, spanning more than 3000 years of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history; other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic, and many other writing systems.

Classical Athens city-state in ancient Greece

The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece was the major urban center of the notable polis (city-state) of the same name, located in Attica, Greece, leading the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. Athenian democracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Isagoras. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC. The peak of Athenian hegemony was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles.

Ancient Greek comedy

Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece. Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy. Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes, while Middle Comedy is largely lost, i.e. preserved only in relatively short fragments by authors such as Athenaeus of Naucratis. New Comedy is known primarily from the substantial papyrus fragments of Menander.

Pollux indeed [1] speaks of him as neôn tis kômikôn, but the terms "middle" and "new," as Clinton remarks, [2] are not always very carefully applied. [3] Epigenes himself, in a fragment of his play called The Little Tomb (Mnêmation) [4] speaks of Pixodarus, prince of Caria, as "the king's son"; and from this Meineke argues [5] that the comedy in question must have been written while Hecatomnus, the father of Pixodarus, was yet alive, and perhaps about 380 BC. We find besides in Athenaeus, [6] that there was a doubt among the ancients whether the play called Disappearance of the Money (Argyrion Aphanismos) should be assigned to Epigenes or Antiphanes. These poets therefore must have been contemporaries. The Suda mentions two other plays written by Epigenes: Heroine and Revelry. [7]

Julius Pollux was a Greek scholar and rhetorician from Naucratis, Ancient Egypt. grammarian and sophist, scholar and rhetorician, 2nd century AD, from Naukratis, Egypt. Emperor Commodus appointed him a professor-chair of rhetoric in Athens at the Academy — on account of his melodious voice, according to Philostratus' Lives of the Sophists.

Pixodarus ancient ruler of Caria

Pixodarus or Pixodaros, was a ruler of Caria, nominally the Achaemenid Empire Satrap, who enjoyed the status of king or dynast by virtue of the powerful position his predecessors of the House of Hecatomnus created when they succeeded the assassinated Persian Satrap Tissaphernes in the Carian satrapy. Lycia was also ruled by the Carian dynasts since the time of Mausolus, and the name of Pixodarus as ruler appears in the Xanthos trilingual inscription in Lycia.

Caria historical region

Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there. The inhabitants of Caria, known as Carians, had arrived there before the Ionian and Dorian Greeks. They were described by Herodotus as being of Minoan Greek descent, while the Carians themselves maintained that they were Anatolian mainlanders intensely engaged in seafaring and were akin to the Mysians and the Lydians. The Carians did speak an Anatolian language, known as Carian, which does not necessarily reflect their geographic origin, as Anatolian once may have been widespread. Also closely associated with the Carians were the Leleges, which could be an earlier name for Carians or for a people who had preceded them in the region and continued to exist as part of their society in a reputedly second-class status.

The fragments of the comedies of Epigenes have been collected by Meineke [8] and Kock. [9]

Related Research Articles

Alexis was a Greek comic poet of the Middle Comedy period. He was born at Thurii in Magna Graecia and taken early to Athens, where he became a citizen, being enrolled in the deme Oion (Οἶον) and the tribe Leontides. It is thought he lived to the age of 106 and died on the stage while being crowned. According to the Suda, a 10th-century encyclopedia, Alexis was the paternal uncle of the dramatist Menander and wrote 245 comedies, of which only fragments now survive, including some 130 preserved titles.

Antiphanes is regarded as the most important writer of the Middle Attic comedy with the exception of Alexis.

Eupolis Athenian playwright of Old Comedy

Eupolis was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War.

Ion of Chios was a Greek writer, dramatist, lyric poet and philosopher. He was a contemporary of Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles. Of his many plays and poems only a few titles and fragments have survived. He also wrote some prose works, including a Pythagorean text, the Triagmos, of which a few fragments survive.

Hermippus was the one-eyed Athenian writer of the Old Comedy who flourished during the Peloponnesian War.

Strattis was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. According to the Suda, he flourished later than Callias Schoenion. Therefore, it is likely that his poetry was performed at the 92nd Olympiad, that is, 412 BC.

Eubulus was an Athenian "Middle Comic" poet, victorious six times at the Lenaia, first probably in the late 370s or 360s BC

Eunicus is the name of two different people in Classical history:

Epicrates of Ambracia, was an Ambraciote who lived in Athens, a comic poet of the Middle Comedy, according to the testimony of Athenaeus. This is confirmed by extant fragments of his plays, in which he ridicules Plato and his disciples, Speusippus and Menedemus, and in which he refers to the courtesan Lais of Corinth, as being now far advanced in years. From these indications, Augustus Meineke infers that he flourished between the 101st and 108th Olympiads.

NICOPHON, the son of a certain Theron, was an Athenian comic poet, a contemporary of Aristophanes in his later years. Athenaeus states that he belonged to Old Comedy, but it is more likely that he belonged to Middle Comedy. We learn from the argument of the Plutus of Aristophanes that he exhibited one of his plays, called Ἄδωνις Adonis, in 388 BC, the date Aristophanes exhibited his Plutus.

Chionides an Athenian comic poet of the 5th century BC, contemporary of Magnes. The Suda says that Chionides flourished eight years before the Greco-Persian Wars, that is, 487 BC. But Augustus Meineke thinks that Chionides flourished no earlier than 460 BC. In confirmation of this date he quotes from Athenaeus, who quoted a fragment of Chionides' Πτωχοί (Beggars), which mentions Gnesippus, a poet contemporary with Cratinus. Aristotle also notes that Chionides "lived long after Epicharmus". But Athenaeus also noted that some critics at the time regarded Chionides' Πτωχοί as spurious. Similarly, some scholars strongly argue against the genuineness of Aristotle's observations.

Theodoridas of Syracuse was a lyric and epigrammatic poet from Syracuse, who is supposed to have lived at the same time as Euphorion, that is, about 235 BC; for, on the one hand, Euphorion is mentioned in one of the epigrams of Theodoridas, and, on the other hand, Clement of Alexandria quotes a verse of Euphorion ἐν ταῖς πρὸς Θεωρίδαν ἀντιγραφαῖς, where Schneider suggests the emendation Θεοδωρίδαν.

Ephippus of Athens was an Ancient Greek comic poet of the middle comedy.

Epigenes of Sicyon was an Ancient Greek tragic poet. He has been confounded by some with his namesake, the comic poet.

Epilycus was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. He is mentioned by an ancient grammarian in connection with Aristophanes and Philyllius. Of his play Kôraliskos, a few fragments are preserved.

Epinicus or Epinikos, was an Athenian comic poet of the new comedy. Two of his plays are known, Hypoballomenai and Mnêsiptolemos. The latter title determines his date to the time of Antiochus III the Great, about 217 BC, for Mnesiptolemus was an historian in great favour with that king.

Dexippus of Cos, also called Dioxippus, was a Greek physician of Cos, who was one of the pupils of the celebrated Hippocrates, and lived in the 4th century BC. Hecatomnus, prince of Caria, sent for him to cure his sons, Mausolus and Pixodarus, of a dangerous illness, which he undertook to do upon condition that Hecatomnus should cease from waging war against his country. He wrote some medical works, of which nothing but the titles remain. He was blamed by Erasistratus for his excessive severity in restricting the quantity of drink allowed to his patients. He is quoted by Plutarch, and Aulus Gellius, in the controversy that was maintained among some of the ancient physicians as to whether the drink passed down the windpipe or the gullet.

Philyllius, also called Phillylius, Phlaeus, Philolaus, or Phillydeus, was an ancient Athenian comic poet. He was contemporary with Diocles and Sannyrion. He belonged to the latter part of the Old Comedy tradition and the beginning of the Middle Comedy tradition. He seems to have attained to some distinction before 392 BC, when the Ecclesiazusae of Aristophanes was acted.

Anaxilas (Ἀναξίλας), also called Anaxilas Comicus, was a Greek comic poet of the Middle Comedy period. Based on his name, he has been presumed of Doric origin. He was, along with several other Middle Comedy poets part of the increasing influence of non-Attic poets following the fifth century BC.

Apollophanes of Athens was a poet of the old Attic comedy. He appears to have been a contemporary of Strattis, and to have consequently lived about Olympiad 95.

References

The public domain consists of all the creative works to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable.

William Smith (lexicographer) English lexicographer

Sir William Smith was an English lexicographer. He also made advances in the teaching of Greek and Latin in schools.

<i>Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology</i> encyclopedia/biographical dictionary

The Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 pages. It is a classic work of 19th-century lexicography. The work is a companion to Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities and Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ vii. 29 (cited by Elder)
  2. ↑ F. H. vol. ii. p. xlix. (cited by Elder)
  3. ↑ See Arist. Eth. Nic. iv. 8. § 6. (cited by Elder)
  4. ↑ ap. Ath. xi. p. 472, f. (cited by Elder)
  5. ↑ Hist. Crit. Com. Graec. p. 354 (cited by Elder)
  6. ↑ ix. p. 409, d. (cited by Elder)
  7. ↑ Suda ε 2262
  8. ↑ vol. iii. p. 537 ; comp. Poll. vii. 29; Ath. iii. p. 75, c., ix. p. 384, a., xi. pp. 469, c., 474, a;, 480, a., 486, c., 502, e. (cited by Elder)
  9. ↑ Theodor Kock, Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta, vol.2, p.416-419
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.