Pherekrates

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Pherekrates ( Greek  Φερεκράτης ) from Athens was a Greek playwright of ancient comedy in the 5th century BC. Chr.

Life

According to the Anonymus de comoedia ( περὶ κωμῳδίας ) Pherekrates began his acting career before emerging as a poet himself. For the year 438/37 BC If the anonymous narrates a victory with an unnamed agon , the conjecture of the ἐπὶ θεάτρου to ἐπὶ Θεοδώρου by the British philologist Peter Paul Dobree (1782-1825) should be correct, because the victory would then be in the archonate of Theodorus like. Since in the inscribed list of the winners at the Dionysia in Athens the name Pherekrates comes before the confirmed Hermippos , victor 436/35 BC. Chr., Can be supplemented - only the beginning of the line Φερ ... is preserved - the information could refer to this festival. In addition, he has won two victories at the Lenées after Kratinos and before Hermippos. In the Suda he is mentioned as a contemporary of Eupolis , Aristophanes , Phrynichus and the comedian Plato . The end of his work is around 410 BC. BC.

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Comedies

While the Suda knows 17 pieces and the Anonymus 18 pieces, a total of 19 work titles have survived. Already in antiquity this led to discussions about which pieces should be denied to Pherekrates. Pseudo Heracles and Anthrophherakles ( Ἀνθρωφηρακλῆς "Hercules as a man") here are to be regarded as variant titles that metics ( Μέτοικοι ) are probably the comedian Plato assign. Metalles ( Μεταλλῆς "The Miners") and Cheiron ( Χείρων ) are also controversial , since Eratosthenes in his work On the Old Comedy assigns the Metalles to Nicomachus , to whom Cheiron should also belong. The unsafe works also included the Agathoi ( ίγαϑοί "The Good"), but above all the Persai ( Πέρσαι "The Persians").

So remain as safe works:

  • Agrioi ( Ἄγριοι "The Wild")
  • Automoloi ( Αὐτόμολοι "defector")
  • Graes ( Γρᾶες "The old women")
  • Doulodidaskalos ( Δουλοδιδάσκαλος "slave teacher")
  • Epilesmon ē Thalatta ( Ἐπικλήσμον ἢ Θάλαττα "The Forgetful or Thalatta")
  • Ipnos ē Pannychis ( Ἰπνὸς ἢ Παννυχίς "The Kitchen or Pannychis")
  • Korianno ( Κοριαννώ )
  • Krapataloi ( Κραπάταλοι "underworld drachms ")
  • Leroi ( Λῆροι "trinkets")
  • Myrmecanthropoi ( Μυρμηκάνϑρωποι "ant people")
  • Petals ( Πετάλη )
  • Tyranny ( Τυραννίς )
  • Pseudo Heracles ( Ψευδηρακλῆς ).

Content

None of the comedies has survived, but there are 282 certain fragments and six possible fragments from the works. Of these, “The Forgetful or Thalatta”, “Korianno” and “Petale” play at least three works in the milieu of the hetaerae , with the “Old Women” and “Tyrannis” other women's themes seem to determine the plot, and possibly the “ Trinket ”. Pherekrates built a counterworld in the “savages”, which Protagoras had in the eponymous dialogue with Plato say that the worst Athenians were better than the savages of Pherekrates. The “underworld drachms”, which deal with an underworld Athens with its own currency and language, belong to the realm of utopia. Education seems to be parodying the “slave teacher”: the preparation of a feudal meal needs to be learned as well as the organization of the intercourse. And the role of Heracles must also be learned, as apparently the “pseudo Heracles”, a normal Athenian who slipped into the role of the hero, had to learn. The area of ​​literary travesty seems to have been populated by the “ant people”, in that the myth of the repopulation of the depopulated island of Aegina with ants by Zeus, the father of the gods , was turned into a comic and enriched with elements from the Deucalion myth .

style

In his work, he is said to have emulated Krates in renouncing open abuse of living people and processed freely invented material, in contrast to older poets or the little younger Aristophanes, who satirically dealt with the circumstances and people of his time. Nonetheless, there are numerous points in the fragments that have survived, for example against Alcibiades , but also against a number of fellow poets who are mocked by the personified music in Cheiron , should the work be attributed to him. His language was purely Attic, which earned him the nickname Attikotatos ( Ἀττικώτατος "the most Attic"). In metrics he is considered to be the inventor of the Pherekrateus named after him , an Anapaestic Hephthemimer , of which he boasted himself.

expenditure

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ For all three mentions see IG II² 2325 .
  2. ↑ Suda , keyword Πλάτων , Adler number: pi 1708 , Suda-Online .
  3. ↑ Suda , keyword Φερεκράτης , Adler number: phi 212 , Suda-Online .
  4. ↑ Eratosthenes in Valerius Harpokration sv μεταλλεῖς ; Photios , lexicon sv ἐυθὺς Λυκείου
  5. ↑ Athenaios , Deipnosophistai 8,364A, in general one seems to have connected the work with Phenekrates: Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 9,368A. 388F; 14,553E; Scholion to Aristophanes, The Frogs 1343.
  6. ↑ In Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 6,248C; 10,415C; 15,685B and in Suda , keyword Στράττις , eagle number: sigma 1178 , Suda-Online attributed to the Strattis .
  7. ↑ Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 3,78D; 11,502A; 15,685A; Scholion to Aristophanes, The Frogs 362 know no particular author.
  8. ↑ Plato, Protagoras 327d.
  9. ↑ Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 12,535B.
  10. ^ Pseudo-Plutarch , de musica p 1141.
  11. ↑ Athenaios, Deipnosophistai 6,268E; Phrynichos with Stephanos of Byzantium sv Ἀθῆναι
  12. ↑ Hephaistion p. 56, Scholion zu Aristophanes, Die Wolken 559.
personal data
SURNAME Pherekrates
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Φερεκράτης (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION ancient comedy Greek playwright
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.