Cratinus

Greek comic poet. Next to Aristophanes, he best represents the Old Attic comedy. He limited the number of actors to three, and was the first to add to comedy the interest of biting personal attack. Of his 21 comedies, only some fragments are extant. A younger Cratinus, a contemporary of Plato, belonged to the Middle Comedy.

Cratinus (Greek Κράτινος, ca.

Cratinus was victorious six times at the City Dionysia, first probably in the mid- to late 450s BCE (IG II2 2325. 50), and three times at the Lenaia, first probably in the early 430s (IG II2 2325. Cratinus was regarded as one of the three great masters of Athenian Old Comedy (the others being Aristophanes and Eupolis), although his poetry is several times described as relatively graceless, harsh, and crudely abusive (test. That he was related to the 4th-century comic poet Cratinus Junior is a reasonable hypothesis but cannot be proven. 514 fragments (including ten dubia) of his comedies survive, along with 29 titles: Archilochuses, Cowherds, Bousiris, Women From Delos, Dramatic Productions, Dionysalexandros, Dionysuses, Runaway Women, Men On Fire (probably an alternative title for Idaeans) Eumenides, Euneidans, Women From Thrace, Idaeans, Cleoboulinas, Spartans, Soft Men, Nemesis.

Some of the plot of one of his final comedy, Wineflask, has come down to us. In the play, Cratinus good-humouredly making fun of his own supposed weakness for wine, representing the comic muse as his own wife, who has grown tired of his bad behavio and demands a divorce.

The style of Cratinus has been likened to that of Aeschylus; According to the statement of a doubtful authority, not borne out by Aristotle, Cratinus increased the number of actors in comedy to three.

The standard edition of the fragments and testimonia is in Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci IV;