Phlyax play in the context of "Ancient Greek comedy"

⭐ In the context of Ancient Greek comedy, *phlyax play* is considered…

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⭐ Core Definition: Phlyax play

A phlyax play (Ancient Greek: φλύαξ, pl: φλύακες, phlyakes), also known as a hilarotragedy (Ἱλαροτραγῳδία lit. 'cheerful tragedy'), was a burlesque dramatic form that developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the 4th century BC. From the surviving fragments and titles of the plays, they appear to have been a form of mythological burlesque, which mixed figures from the Greek pantheon with the stock characters and situations of Attic Comedy.

While the plays themselves survive only as titles and a few fragments, a substantial body of South Italian vases which survive today are generally thought to represent phlyax-related imagery. These vases depict lively and entertaining theatrical scenes of contemporary Athenian comedies as well as lesser known local productions. Distinct phlyax plays, blending tragic and comic elements, became well defined only in the late 4th century BC onwards by the dramatist Rhinthon. Five authors of this genre are known by name; Rhinthon and Sciras of Taranto, Blaesus of Capri, Sopater of Paphos and Heraclides.

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👉 Phlyax play in the context of Ancient Greek comedy

Ancient Greek comedy (Ancient Greek: κωμῳδία, romanized: kōmōidía) was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece; the others being tragedy and the satyr play. Greek comedy was distinguished from tragedy by its happy endings and use of comically exaggerated character archetypes, the latter feature being the origin of the modern concept of the comedy. Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods; Old Comedy survives today largely in the form of the eleven extant plays of Aristophanes; Middle Comedy is largely lost and preserved only in relatively short fragments by authors such as Athenaeus of Naucratis; New Comedy is known primarily from the substantial papyrus fragments of Menander. A burlesque dramatic form that blended tragic and comic elements, known as phlyax play or hilarotragedy, developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia by the late 4th century BC.

The philosopher Aristotle wrote in his Poetics (c. 335 BC) that comedy is a representation of laughable people and involves some kind of blunder or ugliness which does not cause pain or disaster. C. A. Trypanis wrote that comedy is the last of the great species of poetry Greece gave to the world.

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Phlyax play in the context of Sopater of Paphos

Sopater of Paphos (Ancient Greek: Σώπατρος ὁ Πάφιος) was a 3rd-century BC parodist and playwright. Atheneus reports on his lifetime in his Deipnosophistae. According to Atheneus, Sopater lived in the time of Alexander the Great, and "was still alive in the reign of the second king of Egypt". After Ptolemy II Philadelphus (308-246 BC) succeeded his father on the throne of Egypt in 283/2 BC, and considering that the work of Sopater was likely composed after Ptolemy II's victory against the Gauls in 270 BC and makes reference to him, scholars place Sopater in the last thirty years of the 4th and the first half of the 3rd century BC. He is believed to have spent a significant part of his life spent in Alexandria.

A few of Sopater's works are known to us through Atheneus' Deipnosophistae, these are: Bacchus, Eubulotheombrutus, Pylaeus and Phacis are described in the ancient source as dramas. Other sources like the 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia Suidas count nine works in total: Hippolytus, Physiologus, Silpho, Cnidia, Nekia, Pylaeus, Orestes, Phacis and Bacchus. Sopatros, in addition to the indicative of his Paphos descent, is called a parodist and a phlyax writer in Athenaeus, and a comedian in Suidas.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Ancient Greek comedy ← New Comedy ← Sopater of Paphos ← Greek comedy
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Asteas → Ancient Greek language → Tragicomedy → Burlesque → Greek colony → Magna Graecia → Greek mythology → List of Greek deities → Stock character → Ancient Greek comedy → South Italian ancient Greek pottery → Athens → Greek tragedy → Rhinthon → Taranto → Capri → Sopater of Paphos → Paphos →