Choerilus (tragic poet)

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See also the other poets names Choerilus.

Choerilus was an Athenian tragic poet, who exhibited plays as early as 524 BC. He was said to have competed with Aeschylus, Pratinas and even Sophocles. According to F. G. Welcker, however, the rival of Sophocles was a son of Choerilus, who bore the same name. The Suidas states that Choerilus wrote 150 tragedies and gained the prize thirteen times. His works are all lost; only Pausanias (i.14) mentions a play by him entitled Alope (a mythological personage who was the subject of dramas by Euripides and Carcinus). His reputation as a writer of satyric dramas is attested in the well-known line iiv(,ca u~v j~acnXsic ~v XoiptXoi ii ~aTbpoL1.

The Choerilean metre, mentioned by the Latin grammarians, is probably so called because the above line is the oldest extant specimen. Choerilus was also said to have introduced considerable improvements in theatrical masks and costumes.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.