Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

The Hellenistic Age• general chaos and confusion after

Sparta’s victory in the Peloponnesian War• led to a civil war of sorts inside Greece• the rise of Thebes• the Battle of Leuctra (371 BCE): “the

graveyard of the Spartan aristocracy”

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

The Hellenistic Age• the rise of Macedon• especially, Philip II• defeated the combined forces of the

southern Greeks at Chaeronea (338 BCE)• but Philip was assassinated (336 BCE)• and Alexander assumed Philip’s throne,

saddled up and rode east

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

The Hellenistic Age• Alexander’s conquests opened up the

East to Greek cultural colonization• the Greek language began to evolve into a

vernacular dialect called koine• the Greeks were, in general, richer than

ever before– but depressed – and disoriented (get it?)

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Philosophy in the Hellenistic Age• rise of many new philosophies• Stoicism: be unemotional and trust that

the universe has a plan• Epicureanism: retreat behind garden

walls and avoid pain

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Art in the Hellenistic Age• all this led to drastic

changes in art• e.g. statuary focuses

on violence/pain• technically brilliant but

hollow

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Post-Classical Drama• tragedy faltered, collapsed and died

– though revivals of “old” tragedies from the Classical Age still had a huge following

• comedy survived by inventing the sit-com• also, mime thrived but did not peak — yet!

– still too bawdy and low-brow for most viewers– drama would not sink as low as mime— at least,

for a while

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Post-Classical Drama• according to Platonius, funding for drama

was undercut, leading to cost-cutting measures– e.g. fewer choruses (or new odes)– also, the end of the parabasis– and the end of the phallus

• also, less direct assault on those in power• instead, comedies ridiculed figures in myth

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Post-Classical Drama• no play extant from 388 to 316 BCE

• this period is called “Middle Comedy”• but we can judge from the outcome what

must have happened– especially, the development of stock

character types– e.g. braggart soldier, greedy prostitute, young

lover, stingy old man, etc.

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Post-Classical Drama• cf. Theophrastus’ Charactershttp://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/101lat

ergkcomedy.htm#theophrastus

• n.b. “character” = “image on a coin”• but who invented “characters”: comic

poets or philosophers?– comedy seems the more likely source!

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Post-Classical Drama• Euripides: the “father of New Comedy”• later comic poets used his melodramatic

style, particularly in crafting complex plots• but no choruses (i.e. written by dramatists)

– only four “choral interludes” (> five acts)– Aristotle called these songs embolima

(“throw-ins”)– but were they unrelated to the plot?

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Post-Classical Drama• greatest author of Middle Comedy was

Alexis of Thurii• no play of his survives entire

– but many fragments– and the Greek original of Plautus’ Poenulus?

• invented the character of the parasite– parasitos (“priest’s assistant”)

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

New Comedy• by late 300’s BCE, New Comedy appears

– many playwrights from outside Greece• based on common domestic concerns

– e.g. family, wealth, being a good neighbor• but built around extraordinary

coincidences, like Euripides’ rescue plays– e.g. recovery of long-lost children

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

New Comedy• New Comedy was seen to reflect life in the

day realistically• thus, it also shaped life in Hellenistic

Greece– e.g. offered a more optimistic and hopeful

view of life than that of Stoics/Epicureans• but still another “garden wall” for Greeks

desperate to flee from the world at large

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

New Comedy• three great exponents of New Comedy

– cf. the triad of classical tragedians• Philemon (ca. 368-267 BCE)

– won most often at the Dionysia– much reflection on philosophy

• Diphilus (ca. 360-290 BCE)– from Sinope (on the shore of the Black Sea)– famous for farce and physical comedy

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

New Comedy

an ancient bust of Diphilus

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander• but the “star of New Comedy” was

Menander (ca. 344-291 BCE)– however, only considered best after his

lifetime, cf. Euripides• his plays, however, were not carried down

through a manuscript tradition– his Greek is later (not classical) so his drama

was not used in training medieval schoolboys

Chapter 10: Later Greek ComedyAncient Depictions

of Menander

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander• yet much of his work has been found

among the papyri unearthed in Egypt– very popular reading even long after his death

• one complete play (Dyscolus, “The Grouch”) and many sizeable fragments– more than half of Samia, Epitrepontes, Aspis– less than half of Sicyonius, Misoumenos,

Perikeiromene

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander• from the remains of Menander’s work, it’s

clear the three-actor rule remained in effect– even though New Comedy requires much more

action than tragedy or Old Comedy ever had– i.e. entrances/exits, more characters to play,

and thus frequent/faster costume changes– sometimes only five lines on stage to effect a

change of role offstage (and move to a new point of entry): see handout on Dyscolus

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

a Roman mosaic depicting the opening scene of Menander’s Synaristosai(“The Ladies Who Lunch”)

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander• took stock characters of Middle Comedy

and made them more humane/subtle, e.g.– Polemon the “braggart soldier” in love

(Perikeiromene)– Thais the kindly madam (Eunuch)– Davus the inept “managing slave” (Andria)

• thus, characters resist “characterization”– this sort of metatheatre promoted realism

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander• characters who recur in Menander:

– Moschion (“Bull-Calf”): young lover/rapist– Demeas (“People”): gruff old man– Smikrines (“Small”): stingy old man– Syros (“Syrian”): clever doorman/butler

• principal theme in Menander is love– especially, the freedom to marry as one

chooses

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander’s Samia• an excellent example of Menander’s subtle

use of “characters”– all of them want and try to do what’s right– in the end, coincidence, character and a

friendly universe save them• from this, they — and we! — learn lessons• in particular, all our lives have the makings

of a “happy ending” if we’ll just let it happen

Chapter 10: Later Greek Comedy

Menander’s Epitrepontes(“The Litigants”)

http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/103reading5epitrepontes.htm