Old Comic poets

Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens. He wrote forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete. The majority of his surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples. Aristophanes's plays were performed at the religious festivals of Athens, mostly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, and several of them won the first prize in their respective competitions.

late 6th/early 5th century BC Greek dramatist and philosopher

Cratinus (; 519 BC – 422 BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy.

Eupolis (; 446 411 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War.

5th-century BC Greek poet, dramatist and philosopher

Pherecrates (Greek: Φερεκράτης) was a Greek poet of Athenian Old Comedy, and a rough contemporary of Cratinus, Crates and Aristophanes.

5th-century BC Athenian Old Comedy poet

Hermippus (; fl. 5th century BC) was the one-eyed Athenian writer of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the Peloponnesian War.

5th/4th century BC Athenian Old Comedy poet

5th-century BC Greek poet of Old Attic comedy

Ameipsias (, fl. late 5th century BC) of Athens was an Ancient Greek comic poet, a contemporary of Aristophanes, whom he twice bested in the dramatic contests. His Konnos () gained a second prize at the City Dionysia in 423, when Aristophanes won the third prize with The Clouds.

Chionides (Greek: Χιονίδης or Χιωνίδης) an Athenian comic poet of the 5th century BC, contemporary of Magnes. The Suda says that Chionides flourished eight years before the Greco-Persian Wars, that is, 487 BC. But Augustus Meineke thinks that Chionides flourished no earlier than 460 BC. In confirmation of this date he quotes from Athenaeus, who quoted a fragment of Chionides' Πτωχοί (Beggars), which mentions Gnesippus, a poet contemporary with Cratinus. Aristotle also notes that Chionides "lived long after Epicharmus". But Athenaeus also noted that some critics at the time regarded Chionides'

Phormis (; fl. c. 478 BC) is one of the originators of Greek comedy, or of a particular form of it. Aristotle identified him as one of the originators of comedy, along with Epicharmus of Kos. He was said to be the first to introduce actors with robes reaching to the ankles, and to ornament the stage with skins dyed purple—as drapery it may be presumed.

earliest period of ancient Greek comedic drama

Athenian poet of Old Comedy

Susarion (Greek: Σουσαρίων) was an Archaic Greek comic poet, was a native of Tripodiscus in Megaris (see Megara) and is considered one of the originators of metrical comedy and, by others, he was considered the founder of Attic Comedy. Nothing of his work, however, survives except one iambic fragment (see below) and this is not from a comedy but instead seems to belong within the Iambus tradition.

ancient Greek poet

ancient Greek poet of Old Comedy

Telecleides () was an Athenian Old Comic poet. A contemporary of Cratinus, he was active , and is known to have won at the Dionysia three times and the Lenaia five times. Only eight titles and a few fragments of his plays survive. One of his plays was The Amphictyons, in which Telecleides presented a Golden Age of impossibly effortless plenty. His other known plays include Apseudeis, Hesiodoi, Prytanes, Sterrhoi, and Eumenides.

Sannyrion () was an Athenian comic poet of the late 5th century BC, and a contemporary of Diocles and Philyllius, according to the Suda. He belonged to the later years of Old Comedy and the start of Middle Comedy.

Strattis () was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. According to the Suda, he flourished later than Callias Schoenion. Therefore, it is likely that his poetry was performed at the 92nd Olympiad, that is, 412 BC.

5th-century BC Athenian poet of Old Comedy

Late 5th-century BC Athenian poet of Old Comedy

Athenian poet of Old Comedy

Nicophon (, also Nicophron, ), the son of a certain Theron, was an Athenian comic poet, a contemporary of Aristophanes in his later years. Athenaeus states that he belonged to Old Comedy, but it is more likely that he belonged to Middle Comedy. We learn from the argument of the Plutus of Aristophanes that he exhibited one of his plays, called Ἄδωνις Adonis, in 388 BC, the date Aristophanes exhibited his Plutus.

Nicochares (, died ca. 345 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, son of the comic playwright Philonides and contemporary with Aristophanes. The titles of Nicochares' plays, as enumerated by the Suda, are, Αμυμώνη (Amymone), Πέλοψ (Pelops), Γαλάτεια (Galatea), Ηρακλής Γάμων (Hercules Getting Married), Ηρακλής Χορηγός (Hercules the Play-Producer), Κρήτες (Cretans), Λάκωνες (The Laconians), Λημνίαι (Lemnian Women), Κένταυροι (Centaurs), and Χειρογάστορες (Those Living Hand-to-Mouth). Augustus Meineke suggested that the Amymone and Pelops may have been alternative names for the same work, as

Athenian poet of Old Comedy

Philyllius (), also called Phillylius, Phlaeus, Philolaus, or Phillydeus, was an ancient Athenian comic poet. He was a contemporary of Diocles and Sannyrion. He belonged to the latter part of the Old Comedy tradition and the beginning of the Middle Comedy tradition. He seems to have attained to some distinction before 392 BC, when the Ecclesiazusae of Aristophanes was performed.

Athenian poet of Middle Comedy

Athenian poet of Old Comedy

Epilycus () was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. He is mentioned by an ancient grammarian in connection with Aristophanes and Philyllius. Of his play Kôraliskos, a few fragments are preserved.