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Middle comedy: Not only mythology and food

Mastellari, Virginia (2016) Middle comedy: Not only mythology and food. Acta Antiqua Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 56 (4). pp. 421-433. ISSN 0044-5975

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Abstract

The disappearance of the political and contemporary dimension in the production after Aristophanes is a false belief that has been shared for a long time, together with the assumption that Middle Comedy – the transitional period between archaia and nea – was only about mythological burlesque and food. The misleading idea has surely risen because of the main source of the comic fragments: Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters. However, the contemporary and political aspect emerges again in the 4th c. BC in the creations of a small group of dramatists, among whom Timocles, Mnesimachus and Heniochus stand out (significantly, most of them are concentrated in the time of the Macedonian expansion). Firstly Timocles, in whose fragments the personal mockery, the onomasti komodein, is still present and sharp, often against contemporary political leaders (cf. frr. 17, 19, 27 K.–A.). Then, Mnesimachus (Φίλιππος, frr. 7–10 K.–A.) and Heniochus (fr. 5 K.–A.), who show an anti- and a pro-Macedonian attitude, respectively. The present paper analyses the use of the political and contemporary element in Middle Comedy and the main differences between the poets named and Aristophanes, trying to sketch the evolution of the genre, the points of contact and the new tendencies.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: P Language and Literature / nyelvészet és irodalom > PA Classical philology / klasszika-filológia
Depositing User: László Sallai-Tóth
Date Deposited: 19 Jan 2018 08:14
Last Modified: 31 Dec 2018 00:19
URI: http://real.mtak.hu/id/eprint/72757

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