Greek Comedy

“Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog.

Few people are interested and the frog dies
of it.”
— E. B. White
• Three phases of Greek comedy:
– Old Comedy
– Middle Comedy
– New Comedy
• Two important comic poets:
– Aristophanes
– Menander
 Origins of Comedy
• Like tragedy (τραγῳδία = ‘goat-song’),
comedy seems to have developed within the
cult of Dionysus
– komodia (κωμῳδία)= ‘song of the komos’ or
‘song of the village (kome)’
• According to Aristotle (Poetics 4), comedy
arose “from the leaders of the phallic songs,
which remain customary even now in many
Greek cities.”
 What is the difference between
tragedy and comedy?
• That one is serious and the other funny is
not a sufficient explanation
– There are funny tragedies
• The genres differ in the way in which the
two forms of drama relate to their audiences
• Tragedy is focused on the universal,
comedy the particular world of classical
Athens
 Characteristics of Old Comedy
• Costumes
– padded, elaborate costumes
– masks
– leather phalloi
• Chorus
– 24 in number
– of primary importance in early plays
• Language
– elaborate and varied
– much sexual and scatological humour
• Plots
– often fantastic
– indifferent to reality
– emphasis on a comic ‘hero’
– strong connection with the world of
contemporary Athens
• ‘real’ Athenians portrayed on stage (e.g. Socrates in
Clouds)
• elements of social and political satire
• a fundamentally conservative outlook
 Middle Comedy
• ca 404 - 321 BCE
• follows the defeat of Athens in 404 BCE
• A time of experiment and transition
• Little political criticism
• Popularity of mythic burlesque
• No complete play survives (only scattered
‘fragments’)
– Alexis and Eubulus were significant figures
 New Comedy
• ca 320 - 250 BCE
• Until recently New Comedy was known
almost exclusively through Roman
adaptation (Plautus and Terence)
• Papyrus-finds have increased our
knowledge of Menander significantly
 Characteristics of New Comedy
• 5-act structure emerged from structural changes in
Old Comedy
– This became the standard structure for all drama until
recently
• Emphasis on social comedy and social tensions
– rich and poor
– town and country
– citizens and non-citizens
– free and slave
– men and women
– parents and children
• No topical comedy, obscenity, no phalloi,
etc.
• The language is closer to tragedy
• Menander’s strength was the sympathetic
portrayal of many kinds of personal
relationship and the problems that arise
from ignorance, misunderstanding, and
prejudice
The papyrus
of
Menander’s
Dyskolos
(end of Act 1)
House of Menander,
Mytlilene (Lesbos)
Thalia (Muse of Comedy)
Comic Mask
Encheiridion (Act 4)

Straton, Dersippos,
Kerdon
 Epitrepontes (Act 2)

Syros (really Daos), Sm(e)ikrines, Coal-burner (Syros)

Kybernetai (Act 3)
Leukadia
Messenia (Act 5)

Syros, Chareinos, Tibios

Plokion (Act 2)

Moschion, Laches,
Synaristosai (Act 1)

Philainis, Plangon, Pythias

 Samia (Act 3)

Mageiros, Demeas, Chrysis