View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Nottingham ePrints Miles, Sarah N. (2009) Strattis, tragedy, and comedy. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham. Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10887/1/Miles-phd-ethesis-Strattis.pdf Copyright and reuse: The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. · Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. · To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in Nottingham ePrints has been checked for eligibility before being made available. · Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not- for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. · Quotations or similar reproductions must be sufficiently acknowledged. Please see our full end user licence at: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions: The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher’s version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. For more information, please contact [email protected] Strattis, Tragedy, and Comedy Sarah Miles Thesis submitted to the University of Nottingham for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2009 Abstract This study comprises a translation, textual commentary, and discussion of the fragments of the Old comic dramatist Strattis which engage with tragedy. It forms the centre of a wider examination of the art of paratragedy and tragic parody in Old Comedy because paratragedy represents the earliest reception of tragedy and one that is contemporary with the initial live performances of tragic plays. Ancient and modern scholarship alike has viewed Aristophanes as the dominant figure in the art of paratragedy and tragic parody. Strattis, a contemporary of Aristophanes, was active in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC and the fragments of his comedies indicate a sustained and wide ranging interaction with contemporary tragedy which is rivalled only by Aristophanic comedy. This is particularly remarkable since the extant corpus of Strattis numbers less than ninety fragments. This work explores the phenomenon of paratragedy beyond Aristophanic paratragedy and raises awareness of the importance of Strattis in this respect. It begins with a survey of paratragedy in other non-Aristophanic fragments of Old Comedy and it examines the various ways that comedy engages with tragedy, indicating the depth and breadth of paratragedy in comic fragments. This provides the foundations on which to examine the fragments of Strattis through a text, translation and commentary on those fragments that engage with tragedy. It leads to a discussion of the works of Strattis overall for their use of tragedy and myth, which allows us to note characteristics of Strattis’ work. This enables a comparison of the paratragedy in the comedies of Strattis and Aristophanes which allows us to reassess the uniqueness of Aristophanic paratragedy and to consider reasons for the popularity of paratragedy in the late fifth century BC. Acknowledgements I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to Prof. Alan Sommerstein for guidance, patience, ideas and, most of all, enjoyable discussions about comedy (of all kinds). My heartfelt thanks go to members of the Classics Department at Nottingham for their friendliness and support, and also to the School of Humanities for providing me with a studentship which allowed me time and space to research. Especial and personal thanks must go to my family for their continual support and love, and especially to Jez, for love, laughter and life. Table of Contents Abbreviations............................................................................................................................1 1 Introduction........................................................................................................................3 2 An Overview of the Development of Paratragedy in Non-Aristophanic Comedy.....17 Khionides......................................................................................................25 Kratinos.........................................................................................................27 Ekphantides ..................................................................................................41 Krates............................................................................................................42 Kallias...........................................................................................................44 Telekleides....................................................................................................49 Pherekrates ...................................................................................................54 Hermippos.....................................................................................................58 Phrynikhos....................................................................................................59 Eupolis..........................................................................................................63 Philonides.....................................................................................................77 Kantharos......................................................................................................78 Leukon..........................................................................................................78 Platon............................................................................................................79 Lysippos........................................................................................................87 Sannyrion......................................................................................................87 Diokles..........................................................................................................89 Philyllios.......................................................................................................89 Theopompos.................................................................................................91 Metagenes ....................................................................................................94 Arkhippos ....................................................................................................95 Alkaios..........................................................................................................96 Apollophanes ...............................................................................................97 Nikokhares ...................................................................................................98 Autokrates ..................................................................................................100 Analysis......................................................................................................101 3 A Commentary on Strattis’ Plays with Tragic and Mythic Links..............................118 Anthroporestes (Humanorestes)..................................................................118 Atalantos.....................................................................................................130 Iphigeron (Iphigeriatric).............................................................................142 Kallippides..................................................................................................146 Lemnomeda................................................................................................153 Medeia........................................................................................................161 Myrmidones (Myrmidons)..........................................................................169 Troilos.........................................................................................................172 Philoktetes...................................................................................................178 Phoinissai (Phoenician Women).................................................................183 Khrysippos..................................................................................................203 Selected Strattis Fragments Unassigned to Plays: fr. 63, 66, 69, 71, 88.....210 4 Strattis and his Use of Tragedy and Myth...................................................................220 5 Strattis and Aristophanes..............................................................................................260 6 Conclusions.....................................................................................................................304 7 Appendix 1: Dating Strattis...........................................................................................314 8 Appendix 2: P. Oxy. 2742 (second century)..................................................................323 9 Bibliography...................................................................................................................326