Dyscolus

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Dyskolos ( Greek δύσκολος " curmudgeon ", " misanthropist ", " misanthrope ") is the title of a comedy by the Greek poet Menander . It is the only one of his works - and the only work of the New Comedy in general- that has survived almost completely: 969 verses in five acts and a prologue by the god Pan with information about the performance time and the table of contents on eleven described on both sides, withonly afew gaps Well-preserved leaves from the 3rd century AD. The papyrus copy was acquired by the Geneva bookmaker Martin Bodmer around 1957and then made available to science (first edition March 1959).

The Dyskolos was v 316th . Chr in the Lenaia premiered and won the first prize.

people

  • Pan , shepherd god
  • Knemon , a farmer
  • Knemon's daughter
  • Simikhe , old nurse, slave of the Knemon
  • Gorgias , stepson of the Knemon
  • Daos , slave of Gorgias
  • Myrrhine , mother of Gorgias and former wife of Knemon (silent role)
  • Sostratos , applicant for Knemon's daughter
  • Khaireas , servant of Sostratos
  • Pyrrhias , slave of Sostratos
  • Getas , slave of Sostratos
  • Kallippides , father of Sostratos
  • Sikon , cook
  • Choir

content

The work is a character comedy, not a piece of intrigue: It is about the funny and ironic drawing of different characters and not about the resolution of intricate "funny" situations.

With a daughter of the woman who was already back then
had a boy, the difficult one was left alone
on his estate, because the woman couldn't stand it.
Burned in love for the maiden, came Sostratos
to please her. That didn't suit the difficult one.
Only her brother is favorably voted: that one himself
can't do anything. But crashed when Knemon
into a well, Sostratos helps him at once.
The old man is reconciled with his wife, the maiden
he gives the young man a wife voluntarily,
and his sister he accepts, - because now is
he has become tame - for the Gorgias as a woman.

The scene of the comedy is the place Phyle in Attica with a holy grotto of the shepherd god Pan .

On one side of the grotto is the farm of the farmer Knemon, who lives there with his daughter and her old nurse Simiche. On the opposite side lives his stepson Gorgias, his mother Myrrhine, who left the Knemon because of his evil character, and the slave Daos. Pan tells the audience in a prologue that he has forged a love affair between Knemon's daughter and Sostratos, son of the wealthy Kallipides, in order to free the girl from her poverty and the rule of the tyrannical and grouchy father.

In the following scenes, Knemon messes with slaves and neighbors, and it is widely believed that the man will always be a disgust and never change. Sostratos, who wants to win the girl over and is supported in his advertising by her stepbrother Gorgias, does not really believe in success because Knemon detests him. Then Gorgias' slave advises him to hire himself out as a servant at Knemon and work hard for him in order to gain recognition.

A sacrificial feast is to be prepared in Pan's Grotto. When the chef Sikon wants to borrow a pot from Knemon, he is, as expected, chased away by the bully. Sostratos' parents are invited to the sacrificial meal, and Sostratos decides to come to the festival with Gorgias and his slave Daos. Then the moaning Simiche rushes over: she was supposed to draw water in the well, but the jug fell into the well, and so did the hoe with which she wanted to fish out the jug. But now she should muck out the stable with this hoe, that's what Knemon, her master, had asked. When trying to get the pick and pitcher out of the well, Knemon falls into the water himself. With the help of Gorgias and Sostratos it is possible to get the farmer out of the well. Knemon now has to realize that he depends on the help of others and that he is only harming himself with his misanthropy. He gives his daughter to Sostratos to wife, but is unlikely to change his character.

Editions in German

  • Eberhard Rechenberg, ed., Transl. And introduction: Menander: "The old curmudgeon". Translated by the M .: Ernst R. Lehmann-Leander, Wolfgang Tilgner. In: Greek Comedies. ( Aristophanes , Menander). Series: Dieterich Collection, 277.Dieterich'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung , Leipzig 1966
  • Georg Wöhrle , Übers .: The difficult one. 2008 German premiere at the University of Trier , review, interpretation
  • Walter Hofmann among other things: Antique comedies. Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Terence . Series: Library of World Literature. From the Greek. and Latin structure, Berlin 1967
  • Klaus Eder, Hg .: Ancient Comedy. Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Terence. Series: Friedrichs Dramatiker des Welttheater, 30. Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag dtv 6830, Munich 1974 (previously at Friedrich Verlag, Velber 1968)
  • Masterpieces of ancient comedy: Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Terenz. Anaconda, Cologne 2007 ISBN 3-86647-161-0

literature

  • Armin Schäfer: Menanders Dyskolos. Investigations on dramatic technique (= contributions to classical philology, vol. 14), Meisenheim am Glan 1965 (also Diss. Phil. Freie Universität Berlin , 1963).
  • Franz Stoessl: Menander, Dyskolos: Commentary . Schöningh, Paderborn 1965
  • Armin Theuerkauf: Menanders Dyskolos as a stage play and poetry , Göttingen 1960 (also Ph.D. University of Göttingen , 1960)
  • Friedrich Zucker (Ed.): Menanders Dyskolos as a testimony to his epoch . Academy, Berlin 1965


supporting documents

  1. ↑ Quoted from Aristophanes of Byzantium . In: Menander: Dyskolus / Dyskolos ( Tusculum Collection ). Heimeran, Munich 1960, p. 7 (text in Greek and German.)
  2. ↑ total 510 p. Also published by Carl Schünemann, Bremen. Preface: The nature and development of ancient comedy; Aristophanes, The Birds; Menander, the old curmudgeon; Plautus , Pseudolus AND Amphitryon AND Das Dreigroschenstück; Terence, the brothers. Epilogue to the translations. Also with Deutsche Buchgemeinschaft, Berlin 1960, with only 405 pages.
  3. ↑ This comedy under the title Das Rauhbein. - All in all 658 S.- By Aristophanes: Clouds AND Peace AND The Frogs AND The Birds; von Plautus: The pot of gold AND the mouth hero; von Terence: The Brothers
  4. ↑ 174 p. - Sections per author or work: life data; Time and work; Analysis and interpretation of the pieces; The work on the stage; Performances in pictures; bibliography