Old comedy

The distinction between different types of Greek comic drama goes back to the ancient Greeks themselves. In a discussion of wittiness (eutrapelia - ευτραπελία) in his Nicomachean Ethics (probably written around 330 BCE) the philosopher Aristotle distinguishes (IV 8, 1128a22-24) between old- and new-style comedies, remarking that in the former 'foul language' - aischrologia (αισχρολογία), i.e., personal abuse and obscenity - is regarded as funny, whereas in the latter it is innuendo - huponoia ('ύπóνοία), i.e., suggestion or insinuation - that is so regarded. This classification was extended by a later literary critic, Platonius (dates unknown), who distinguished three phases in the history of Greek comic drama: the Old Comedy (before c400 BCE), the Middle Comedy (between c400 and c320), and the New Comedy (after c320).(Platonius's Old Comedy and Middle Comedy correspond roughly to Aristotle's old-style and new-style comedy).

While there are, of course, no sharp breaks in the development of Greek comedy, Platonius's threefold distinction is well founded, and has become standard. Considered collectively, the comedies written in any one of the periods he distinguished do seem to share certain features which distinguish them from the comedies written in either of the other periods.

• The dramas of the Old Comedy tended to be personal attacks on political or other well-known individuals, though other themes such as the satirical treatment of stories from Greek mythology are also found. Most of the plays of the comic poet Aristophanes are examples of the Old Comedy.

• While the dramas of the Middle Comedy were sometimes satirical treatments of mythological material, they came increasingly to deal with situations in everyday life. Apart from Aristophanes' Ecclesiazousai (391) and Plutus (388) no dramas from the Middle Comedy have survived in their entirety.

• In dramas of the New Comedy, as in those of the Middle Comedy, the plot was usually taken from everyday life, with a particular focus on the behaviour of lovers and those motivated by love. The most famous dramatist of the New Comedy was Menander (?342-?292)

In addition to these differences in subject matter there are also more technical differences between the plays from each of the three periods, e.g., in their formal structure, in the types of poetic metres used, and in the prominence and function of the chorus.

See further Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, and Terence.

For help with the pronunciation of Greek names see Pronunciation of Greek Proper Names.