Antiphanes (comic poet)

Antiphanes (Ancient Greek: Ἀντιφάνης; c. 408 to 334 BCE) is regarded as the most important writer of the Middle Attic comedy with the exception of Alexis.

He was apparently a foreigner (perhaps from Cius, on the Propontis, Smyrna or Rhodes)[1] who settled in Athens, where he began to write about 387. He was extremely prolific: more than 200 of the 365 (or 260) comedies attributed to him are known to us from the titles and considerable fragments preserved in Athenaeus. They chiefly deal with matters connected with the table, but contain many striking sentiments. About 130 titles of his plays are known.[2]

Stephanus, Athenian comic poet of the New Comedy, is said to have exhibited some of the plays of Antiphanes and was probably his son. One quotation by Athenaeus is the only surviving fragment of the works of Stephanus.[3]

Surviving titles and fragments

  • Adelphai ("Sisters")
  • Adonis
  • Agroikos ("The Country-Dweller")
  • Akestria
  • Akontizomene ("Woman Shot With an Arrow")
  • Aleiptria ("The Female Oiler, or Masseuse")
  • Alkestis ("Alcestis")
  • Antaios ("Antaeus")
  • Anteia
  • Anasozomenoi ("The Rescued Men")
  • Aphrodites Gonai ("Aphrodite's Birth" )
  • Archestrate
  • Archon
  • Argyriou Aphanismos ("Disappearance of Money")
  • Arkas ("Man from Arcadia")
  • Arpazomene ("The Seized, or Captured, Woman")
  • Asklepios ("Asclepius")
  • Asotoi ("Debauched Men")
  • Auletes ("Male Flute-Player")
  • Auletris ("Female Flute-Player"), or Didymai ("Twin Sisters")
  • Autou Eron
  • Bakchai ("Bacchae")
  • Batalos
  • Boiotis ("The Woman From Boeotia")
  • Bombylios
  • Bousiris ("Busiris")
  • Boutalion
  • Byzantios ("The Man From Byzantium")
  • Cyclops
  • Chrysis
  • Gamos ("Marriage")
  • Ganymedes ("Ganymede")
  • Glaukos
  • Gorgythos
  • Diplasia ("Female Double")
  • Dodonis ("The Woman From Dodona")
  • Drapetagogos ("Catcher of Runaway Slaves")
  • Dyserotes ("People With Disastrous Love-Lives")
  • Dyspratos ("The Hard-To-Sell Slave")
  • Ephesia ("The Woman From Ephesus")
  • Epidaurios ("The Man From Epidaurus")
  • Epikleros ("The Heiress")
  • Euploia ("A Pleasant Voyage")
  • Euthydikos
  • Halieuomene ("Woman Caught Like A Fish")
  • Heniochos ("The Charioteer")
  • Hippeis ("Knights")
  • Homoioi ("People Who Resemble Each Other")
  • Homonymoi ("People With The Same Name")
  • Homopatrioi ("People With The Same Father")
  • Hydria ("The Water-Pitcher")
  • Hypnos ("Sleep")
  • Iatros ("The Physician")
  • Kaineus ("Caeneus")
  • Kares ("Men From Caria")
  • Karine ("The Woman From Caria")
  • Kepouros ("The Gardener")
  • Kitharistes ("The Harpist")
  • Kitharodos
  • Kleophanes
  • Knapheus ("The Fuller")
  • Knoithideus, or Gastron ("Glutton")
  • Korinthia ("The Woman From Corinth")
  • Koroplathos ("Modeller of Clay Figures")
  • Korykos
  • Kouris ("The Female Hair-Dresser")
  • Kybeutai ("Dice-Players")
  • Lampas ("The Torch")
  • Lampon
  • Lemniai ("Women From Lemnos")
  • Leonides
  • Leptiniskos
  • Leukadios ("The Man From Leucas")
  • Lydos ("The Man From Lydia")
  • Medeia ("Medea")
  • Melanion
  • Meleagros ("Meleager")
  • Melitta ("The Bee")
  • Metoikos ("Resident Alien")
  • Metragyrtes ("Beggar-Priest of Cybele")
  • Metrophon
  • Midon
  • Minos ("Minos")
  • Misoponeros ("Hater of Wickedness")
  • Mnemata ("The Tombs")
  • Moichoi ("Adulterers")
  • Mylon ("The Mill")
  • Mystis ("Woman Initiated Into the Mysteries")
  • Obrimos
  • Oinomaos, or Pelops
  • Oionistes ("The Omen-Reader")
  • Omphale ("Omphale")
  • Orpheus ("Orpheus")
  • Paiderastes ("The Pederast")
  • Parasitos ("The Parasite")
  • Paroimiai ("Proverbs")
  • Phaon ("Phaon")
  • Philetairos ("Philetaerus")
  • Philoktetes ("Philoctetes")
  • Philometor ("Mother-Lover")
  • Philopator ("Father-Lover")
  • Philotis
  • Phrearrhios
  • Plousioi ("Rich Men")
  • Poiesis ("Poetry")
  • Pontikos ("Man From Pontus")
  • Probateus ("The Sheep-Rancher")
  • Problema ("Problem," or "Riddle")
  • Progonoi ("Ancestors")
  • Pyraunos
  • Sappho
  • Skleriai ("Difficulties," or "Hardships")
  • Skythai ("Scythians"), or Tauroi ("Bulls")
  • Stratiotes ("The Soldier"), or Tychon
  • Thamyras
  • Timon
  • Traumatias ("The Wounded Man")
  • Tritagonistes
  • Tyrrhenus
  • Zakynthios ("The Man From Zakynthos")
  • Zographos ("The Painter")

Notes

  1. ↑ Manual of Greek Literature: From the Earliest Authentic Periods to the Close of Byzantine Era Page 221 by Charles Anthon (1853)
  2. ↑ Smith, Sir William (ed.) (1849). "Antiphanes, a comic poet". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. vol. I. Boston: Little & Brown. p. 204.
  3. ↑ Smith, Sir William, ed. (1859). "STEPHANUS, literary". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. vol. III. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. p. 904.

References