CUTTING COMEDIES

Ian Storey
Trent University
Canada

It is accepted orthodoxy that at the Athenian dramatic competitions, particularly those at the City Dionysia, five comedies were the rule, one by each of five comic poets. Several inscriptions from the 430s and the fourth century, as well as the hypothesis to Aristophanes' Ploutos (388 BC), confirm the number of comedies as five. But it is also accepted that during the Peloponnesian War (431 to 404 BC), this number was reduced from five to three, and that during this period of reduction comedy was produced, not on its own separate day, as in the past, but one on each of the three days of tragedy, following the tragedies and the satyr-play. The arguments in favour of the reduction were certain hypotheses to the plays of Aristophanes which list three victors only for the Dionysia of 423, 421, and 414, and a passage in Aristophanes' Birds (414 BC - lines 786-9) which has been read as showing that comedy was produced after lunch on the same day as tragedy. Almost all the handbooks of ancient drama list these conclusions as fact and attribute the reduction to the economic and social demands of wartime.

In a landmark article in 1972 Wolfgang Luppe made a strong case for retaining both the number of comedies (five) throughout the war and the separate day for comedy. He argued that the relevant Aristophanic hypotheses were recording victories only, not entrants, that the passage in Birds is not opposing tragedy and comedy, but that "to us" refers to the theatre in a larger sense, and that we know of too many lost comedies which must belong to the years 426-404 than can be accommodated by only six per year (three at the Lenaia, and three at the Dionysia). Luppe's case was bolstered by the publication of P.Oxy. 2737 (1968), part of a comic commentary which implies that the comedian Platon (debut 424) finished fourth early in his career. Luppe's thesis has gained some adherents, was challenged plausibly by Mastromarco, and augmented by Sutton and Rosen who attempted to discern further "rules" on comic productions.

My paper will examine the state of this question as we approach the end of the century, just over a quarter of a century after Luppe first challenged the opinio communis. I will re-examine the evidence which was used to establish the reduction, the arguments which Luppe used to maintain the number at five, and the discussion which has ensued since 1972. In particular, I want to challenge Luppe's third principle, that there are too many plays which must be dated 426-404. Essentially this will be a preliminary go at re-doing Geissler (Chronologie der altattische Komodie, 1924/1969), which is sadly in need of review. I will consider also why comedy might have been cut back during the War.

Finally, I want to consider the implications of the debate: examples will include Aristophanes' third-place finish with Clouds in 423, the competition at the Lenaia of 422, and the dating of Eupolis' comedies (with a piece of neglected evidence from his Marikas).

Ian Storey
Trent University
Canada

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