The Comic Odysseus

E. D. Phillips

doi:10.1017/S0017383500013292

The Comic Odysseus

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009

E. D. Phillips

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Odysseus, with Herakles, was a favourite character in that mythological type of comedy which we know only in titles and fragments, though it was well liked in antiquity. The purpose of this article is to collect these stray pieces, to present Odysseus as he appears in this tradition, and to suggest reasons for his popularity on the comic stage.

Type: Research Article
Information: Greece & Rome , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 1959 , pp. 58 - 67

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017383500013292 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1959

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^{page 58 note 1} See his series of articles, ‘Studies in the Characterization of Ulysses’, Hermathena, lxxiii–lxxix (1949–1955)Google Scholar, and particularly ‘I. The Denigration of Odysseus’, lxxiii (1949), 34–36.

^{page 58 note 2} Hermathena, i (1874), 265–75, ‘The Degradation of Odysseus’. Mahaffy suggested that Epicharmos began this process; on this point see later.

^{page 58 note 3} See the second ὑπόθεσις to the play, 1. 11 Murray.

^{page 58 note 4} For the fragments of Epicharmos I have used the text and notes of Olivieri, A., Frammenti della commedia greca e del mimo netta Sicilia e nella Magna Grecia (Naples, 1947).Google Scholar

^{page 59 note 1} Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta, ii (1899), 108–9Google Scholar, Fr. 99. The original text was published by Gomperz, G. T. in Mitteilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzherzog Rainer, v (1899), IGoogle Scholar, and Kaibel's version contains restorations by Gomperz and Blass as well as by himself. The fragment appears also in Pickard-Cambridge, A. W., Dithyramb, Tragedy, and Comedy (Oxford, 1927), 380–1Google Scholar, in Loeb, D. L. Page's edition, Greek Literary Papyri, iii (London, 1950), 195Google Scholar, and in Olivieri, op. cit., as Frag. 50, pp. 36–39. In 1. 2 Page restores δῆλά as first word, and in 1. 6 Olivieri restores καἰ μεγάλα τῶν at the beginning.

^{page 59 note 2} Except for the slight differences just noted in n. I.

^{page 60 note 1} ‘On the ‘Οδυσσεὐς αὐτόμολος of Epicharmus’, Class. Philology, xiv (1950), 167–9.Google Scholar Stanford does not propose any alternative restorations; nor do I feel equal to the task.

^{page 60 note 2} Fr. 51 Olivieri (100 Kaibel), from Athenaios xi. 374 d–e, discussed by Olivieri on pp. 39–40.

^{page 61 note 1} Fr. 52 Olivieri, from a scholium on Aristoph. Birds 1233. The rest adds nothing to our purpose.

^{page 61 note 2} Fr. 44–46.

^{page 61 note 3} Fr. 44 (82 Kaibel), from Athen, ix. 366 b.

^{page 61 note 4} Fr. 45 (81 Kaibel), from Herodian, Dict. Solit. 10. 30.

^{page 61 note 5} Fr. 46 (83 Kaibel), from Athen, ix. 498 a.

^{page 62 note 1} Frr. 70–71 (123 and 124 Kaibel).

^{page 62 note 2} Fr. 70, from the Townley scholium on Il. xix. I.

^{page 62 note 3} Fr. 71, from Athen, vii. 277 f.

^{page 62 note 4} Olivieri, p. 46, remarks that Odysseus must be tied to the mast, with watering mouth and able only to lament.

^{page 62 note 5} Frr. 57–60 (105–8 Kaibel).

^{page 62 note 6} Fr. 59 (107 Kaibel), from Etym. Mag. 139. I.

^{page 62 note 7} Fr. 58 (106 Kaibel) ὀρθίαξ, from Pollux x. 134 (τὀ κάτω τοῦ ιστοῦ … ‘Επίχαρμος ‘Οδυσσεῖ ναυαγῷ).

^{page 62 note 8} Fr. 60 (108 Kaibel) from I. Bekker, Antiatt. 82. 16.

^{page 62 note 9} Frr. 1540 a and b (172–3 Kaibel), discussed by Olivieri on pp. 90–92; from Diog. Laertios iii. 15. 16. He had it from Alkimos, the Platonic commentator, who tries to connect it with Plato's theory of Ideas. So also a very Socraticsounding dialogue in Fr. 153 (171 Kaibel) was thought by Alkimos (ap. D. L. iii. 13. 14) to be an anticipation of Plato. It is difficult to see how Kaibel connected Frr. 154 a and b with the Odysseus Shipwrecked, whose scene is almost certainly confined to Phaiakia.

^{page 63 note 1} See Olivieri, p. 90.

^{page 63 note 2} For the Attic fragments I have used the collection of Kock, T., Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta (3 vols., Leipzig, 1880–1888)Google Scholar, in which the numbering of fragments is not continuous but begins again with each poet.

^{page 63 note 3} Kratinos, Frr. 135–50.

^{page 63 note 4} See Kock, i. 55, who quotes Platonios xiii. 40 τοιοῦτος ον ἐστιν ὁ τῆς μέσης κωμῳδίας τύπος, οίος … καì οἱ ‘Οδυσσεīς Κρατίνου, οὕτε παραβάσεις ἕχοντες. It is likely that it had no παράβασις, but surely impossible that it had no choric passages, with a plural title and a ship's company on the stage. Platonios xiv. 71 also says, οἱ γοῦν ‘Κρατίνου οὒδενὸς ἐπιτίμησιν ἔχουσι διασυρμὸν δὲ τῆς ‘Οδυσσείας. It was most likely written during the ban on political attack in comedy of 440–438 b.c. See Schmid, W. and Stählin, O., Geschichte der griechischen Literatur, I. iv (München, 1946), 75, 80.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 1} So Whittaker, M., Class. Quarterly, xxix (1935), 182 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 64 note 2} Frr. 138 and 139, from Hephaistion viii. 5.

^{page 64 note 3} Fr. 144, from Heph. viii. 8.

^{page 64 note 4} Fr. 136, from Athen, ii. 68 c.

^{page 64 note 5} Fr. 141, from Athen, x. 446 b.

^{page 64 note 6} Fr. 135, from Pollux vi. 26.

^{page 64 note 7} Fr. 137, from Pollux x. 33.

^{page 64 note 8} Fr. 142, from Athen, iii. 99 f.

^{page 64 note 9} Fr. 143, from Athen, ix. 358 c. The other fragments are of little interest for the present purpose.

^{page 64 note 10} Fr. 147, from Athen, vii. 315 b.

^{page 64 note 11} Fr. 148, from Athen, xiv. 657 a.

^{page 65 note 1} Theop. Com. Frr. 33–36.

^{page 65 note 2} Id. Frr. 47–49.

^{page 65 note 3} Id. Frr. 50–53.

^{page 65 note 4} Id. Fr. 33, from Eustathios 1863. 49.

^{page 65 note 5} Theop. Com. Fr. 34, from Athen, v. 165 b.

^{page 65 note 6} Theop. Com. Fr. 47, from I. Bekker, Anecdota Graeca 328. 28.

^{page 65 note 7} Theop. Com. Fr. 48, from Athen, xiv. 657 a.

^{page 65 note 8} Theop. Com. Fr. 49, from Athen, iv. 183 e.

^{page 65 note 9} Theop. Com. Fr. 50, from Etym. Mag. 367. 22.

^{page 65 note 10} Theop. Com. Fr. 51, from Athen, ix. 399 d.

^{page 65 note 11} Theop. Com. Fr. 52, from Schol. Aristoph. Lysistr. 45 and Suidas, s.v. Περιβαρίδες ὑποδήματος ειδος.

^{page 65 note 12} Compare Sokrates attending the banquet in slippers (βλαūται) in Plato, Symp. 174 a.

^{page 65 note 13} Theop. Com. Fr. 53, from Pollux vii. 181.

^{page 65 note 14} Nikoph. Frr. 12–14.

^{page 66 note 1} Nikoph. Fr. 12, from Athen, iii. 80 a.

^{page 66 note 2} Nikoph. Fr. 13, from Athen, vi. 269 e.

^{page 66 note 3} Nikoph. Fr. 14, from Athen, ix. 368 b.

^{page 66 note 4} Philyll. Fr. 9, from Schol. Aristoph. Birds 1569.

^{page 66 note 5} Anaxandr. Frr. 33 and 34, from Athen, vi. 227 b and 242 d–e.

^{page 66 note 6} Eub. Fr. 68, from Athen, vii. 307 f, and Fr. 71, from Athen, xi. 478 c.

^{page 66 note 7} Amph. Fr. 27, from Athen, xv. 691 a.

^{page 66 note 8} Ephipp. Fr. II, from Athen, x. 430 f.

^{page 66 note 9} Anaxil. Fr. 10, from Athen, iv. 171. 2, and Fr. II, from Athen, iii. 951 (Kalypso); Fr. 12, from Athen, ix. 374 e–f, Fr. 13 from Athen, iii. 95 b, and Fr. 14, from D. L. iii. 28 (Kirke).

^{page 66 note 10} Alex. Fr. 154, from Bekker, Anecd. Graec. 98. 17, Fr. 155, from Athen, vii. 302 f; and Fr. 156, from Athen, x. 421 a.

^{page 67 note 1} Commenti mediterranei all'Odissea di Omero (Milan, 1950), particularly i. 1–48.Google Scholar

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