Anaxilas_(comic_poet)

Anaxilas (comic poet)

Anaxilas (comic poet)

4th century BC Athenian poet of Middle Comedy

Anaxilas (Ἀναξίλας), also called Anaxilas Comicus, (fl. 340 BC)[1] was a Greek comic poet of the Middle Comedy period. Based on his name, he has been presumed of Doric origin.[2] He was, along with several other Middle Comedy poets (e.g. Antiphanes, Anaxandrides, Amphis, Alexis, Epicrates, Eubulides, Sophilus, and Dionysius of Sinope, all of apparently non-Attic origin) part of the increasing influence of non-Attic poets following the fifth century BC.[3]

He was one of several comic poets mentioned by Diogenes Laërtius, as having "ridiculed" Plato.[4]

Surviving Titles and Fragments

Titles for twenty one of his plays are known, but only fragments of his works remain.[5]

  • The Rustic Man
  • Exchange
  • The Pipe-Player
  • Botrylion
  • Glaucus
  • Manliness
  • Thrasyleon
  • Calypso
  • Circe
  • Cyclops
  • Lyremakers (or possibly Perfume-makers)
  • Cooks
  • The Recluse
  • Neottis
  • Nereus
  • Bird-Keepers
  • Wealthy Men (or possibly Wealthy Women)
  • Hyacinthus, or Hyacinthus the Pimp
  • Graces
  • The Goldsmith
  • Seasons

Notes

  1. [1]
    Arnold, p. 221.
  2. [2]
    Edmonds, pp. 332–333 n. b; Csapo, p. 218 n. 83.
  3. [3]
    Csapo, p. 218.
  4. [4]
    Diogenes Laërtius, 3.26, 28.
  5. [5]
    Edmonds, pp. 332–348.

References

  • Arnold, Sir Edwin, The Poets of Greece, London: Cassell, Petter, and Galpin, 1869.
  • Csapo, Eric, Hans Rupprecht Goette, J. Richard Green, Peter Wilson, Greek Theatre in the Fourth Century BC, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, 2014.
  • Edmonds, The Fragments of "Attic Comedy" After Meineke, Bergk, and Kock: Augm., Newly Ed. with Their Contexts, Annot., and Completely Transl. Into English Verse. Old comedy, Brill Archive, 1959.
  • Smith, William; Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London (1873). "Anaxilas" .
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