The Hellenistic Age general chaos and confusion after Sparta s victory in the Peloponnesian War led to a civil war of sorts inside Greece the rise of Thebes the Battle of Leuctra (371 BCE): the graveyard of the Spartan aristocracy
The Hellenistic Age the rise of Macedon especially, Philip II defeated the combined forces of the southern Greeks at Chaeronea (338 BCE) but Philip was assassinated (336 BCE) and Alexander assumed Philip s throne, saddled up and rode east
The Hellenistic Age Alexander s conquests opened up the East to Greek cultural colonization the Greek language began to evolve into a vernacular dialect called koine the Greeks were, in general, richer than ever before but depressed and disoriented (get it?)
Philosophy in the Hellenistic Age rise of many new philosophies Stoicism: be unemotional and trust that the universe has a plan Epicureanism: retreat behind garden walls and avoid pain
Art in the Hellenistic Age all this led to drastic changes in art e.g. statuary focuses on violence/pain technically brilliant but hollow
Post-Classical Drama tragedy faltered, collapsed and died though revivals of old tragedies from the Classical Age still had a huge following comedy survived by inventing the sit-com also, mime thrived but did not peak yet! still too bawdy and low-brow for most viewers drama would not sink as low as mime at least, for a while
Post-Classical Drama according to Platonius, funding for drama was undercut, leading to cost-cutting measures e.g. fewer choruses (or new odes) also, the end of the parabasis and the end of the phallus also, less direct assault on those in power instead, comedies ridiculed figures in myth
Post-Classical Drama no play extant from 388 to 316 BCE this period is called Middle Comedy but we can judge from the outcome what must have happened especially, the development of stock character types e.g. braggart soldier, greedy prostitute, young lover, stingy old man, etc.
Post-Classical Drama cf. Theophrastus Characters http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/clasdram/chapters/101lat ergkcomedy.htm#theophrastus n.b. character = image on a coin but who invented characters : comic poets or philosophers? comedy seems the more likely source!
Post-Classical Drama Euripides: the father of New Comedy later comic poets used his melodramatic style, particularly in crafting complex plots but no choruses (i.e. written by dramatists) only four choral interludes (> five acts) Aristotle called these songs embolima ( throw-ins ) but were they unrelated to the plot?
Post-Classical Drama greatest author of Middle Comedy was Alexis of Thurii no play of his survives entire but many fragments and the Greek original of Plautus Poenulus? invented the character of the parasite parasitos ( priest s assistant )
New Comedy by late 300 s BCE, New Comedy appears many playwrights from outside Greece based on common domestic concerns e.g. family, wealth, being a good neighbor but built around extraordinary coincidences, like Euripides rescue plays e.g. recovery of long-lost children
New Comedy New Comedy was seen to reflect life in the day realistically thus, it also shaped life in Hellenistic Greece e.g. offered a more optimistic and hopeful view of life than that of Stoics/Epicureans but still another garden wall for Greeks desperate to flee from the world at large
New Comedy three great exponents of New Comedy cf. the triad of classical tragedians Philemon (ca. 368-267 BCE) won most often at the Dionysia much reflection on philosophy Diphilus (ca. 360-290 BCE) from Sinope (on the shore of the Black Sea) famous for farce and physical comedy
New Comedy an ancient bust of Diphilus
Menander but the star of New Comedy was Menander (ca. 344-291 BCE) however, only considered best after his lifetime, cf. Euripides his plays, however, were not carried down through a manuscript tradition his Greek is later (not classical) so his drama was not used in training medieval schoolboys
Ancient Depictions of Menander
Menander yet much of his work has been found among the papyri unearthed in Egypt very popular reading even long after his death one complete play (Dyscolus, The Grouch ) and many sizeable fragments more than half of Samia, Epitrepontes, Aspis less than half of Sicyonius, Misoumenos, Perikeiromene
Menander from the remains of Menander s work, it s clear the three-actor rule remained in effect even though New Comedy requires much more action than tragedy or Old Comedy ever had i.e. entrances/exits, more characters to play, and thus frequent/faster costume changes sometimes only five lines on stage to effect a change of role offstage (and move to a new point of entry): see handout on Dyscolus
a Roman mosaic depicting the opening scene of Menander s Synaristosai ( The Ladies Who Lunch )
Menander
Menander took stock characters of Middle Comedy and made them more humane/subtle, e.g. Polemon the braggart soldier in love (Perikeiromene) Thais the kindly madam (Eunuch) Davus the inept managing slave (Andria) thus, characters resist characterization this sort of metatheatre promoted realism
Menander characters who recur in Menander: Moschion ( Bull-Calf ): young lover/rapist Demeas ( People ): gruff old man Smikrines ( Small ): stingy old man Syros ( Syrian ): clever doorman/butler principal theme in Menander is love especially, the freedom to marry as one chooses
Menander s Samia an excellent example of Menander s subtle use of characters all of them want and try to do what s right in the end, coincidence, character and a friendly universe save them from this, they and we! learn lessons in particular, all our lives have the makings of a happy ending if we ll just let it happen
Menander s Epitrepontes ( The Litigants ) http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/clasdram/cha pters/103reading5epitrepontes.htm