Tuesday, 2 June 2020

Ancient Greek Legal System

The Ancient Greek Legal System Illustrated in Ancient Greek Drama

The Athenian Legal System: Historical Context
Classical Athens had no professional judges or lawyers; its courts were large assemblies of citizen-jurors chosen by lot. After Solon's reforms (594 BC) any citizen of the four property classes could serve as juror. Archons (magistrates) convened trials but gave no legal advice - the jurors themselves heard the case and voted by secret ballot. Trial verdicts were decided by majority, often in juries of hundreds (minimum 201, typically 501, 1001 or even 1501). Jurors were paid a small stipend so that poorer citizens could afford to serve. Punishments ranged from fines or scourging to exile or death; notably, Athenian courts could vote ostracism to exile those feared as potential tyrants. Courts met in roofed halls in the Agora; archaeologists have found ancient ballot boxes used to select jurors.

Aeschylus - Oresteia: From Vendetta to Civic Justice
In Eumenides, Aeschylus dramatizes the trial of Orestes on the Areopagus hill - a mythical founding of Athens' homicide court. Athena presides and institutes a jury to vote on Orestes' guilt. The tie-breaking vote by Athena acquits him, symbolizing the replacement of blood-feud with civic justice. The play celebrates the rule of law and institutionalized justice, echoing the establishment of democratic courts in Athens.

Sophocles - Antigone: State Law versus Divine Justice
Antigone confronts King Creon's edict forbidding her brother's burial. She argues for unwritten divine laws over human laws. Creon's authoritarian enforcement leads to tragedy, suggesting that laws lacking ethical or religious foundation can undermine society. The play dramatizes conflict between physis (natural law) and nomos (human law), posing questions of legal legitimacy and justice.

Euripides - The Suppliant Women: Democracy and the Rule of Law
Theseus, the Athenian king, refuses to act unilaterally to recover fallen Argive warriors. He consults the Athenian Assembly, showing that decisions of justice must be authorized by the citizen body. Euripides portrays Athens as a paragon of democratic, lawful, and pious governance, in contrast to despotic Thebes.

Aristophanes - Wasps: Satire of the Judicial System
Wasps mocks the Athenian obsession with litigation. Philocleon, addicted to jury service, symbolizes civic
over-participation. Aristophanes critiques the influence of politicians like Cleon and the economic motives behind juror pay. The comedy reflects public anxieties about corruption, populism, and misuse of the legal system.

References

Aeschylus. (2004). The Oresteia (R. Fagles, Trans.). Penguin Classics.
Sophocles. (2003). Antigone (R. Fagles, Trans.). Penguin Classics.
Euripides. (1992). The Suppliant Women (D. Grene & R. Lattimore, Eds.). University of Chicago Press.
Aristophanes. (1998). Wasps (J. Henderson, Trans.). Loeb Classical Library.
Carey, C. (1997). Trials from Classical Athens. Routledge.
Ehrenberg, V. (1960). The Greek State (2nd ed.). Methuen.
Finley, M. I. (1983). Politics in the Ancient World. Cambridge University Press.
Gagarin, M. (1986). Early Greek Law. University of California Press.
Hansen, M. H. (1991). The Athenian Democracy in the Age of Demosthenes. Blackwell.
Lanni, A. (2006). Law and Justice in the Courts of Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press.
The Ancient Greek Legal System Illustrated in Greek Drama
MacDowell, D. M. (1978). The Law in Classical Athens. Cornell University Press.
Osborne, R. (1996). Greece in the Making: 1200-479 BC. Routledge.
Blundell, S. (1995). Women in Ancient Greece. Harvard University Press.
American School of Classical Studies at Athens. (Various years).
The Athenian Agora. Princeton University Press.


 References

Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece - Internet Archive
Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece (2006 edition) - Open Library

Athenian Constitution - Wikisource, the free online library

John Robinson (1807). Archaeologia Graeca or the Antiquities of Greece: Being account of the Manners and Customs of the Greeks. Chapter XV: Courts of Justice: R. Phillips. pp. 67–.

Featured Object: Ancient Athenian Juror’s Ticket, Blog, Spurlock Museum, U of I


Nigel Wilson (31 October 2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Judicial Procedure: Routledge. pp. 400–1. ISBN 978-1-136-78800-0.

Nigel Wilson (31 October 2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Land Tenure: Routledge. pp. 410–. ISBN 978-1-136-78800-0.

Nigel Wilson (31 October 2013). Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece. Law: Routledge. pp. 418–. ISBN 978-1-136-78800-0.

Early Greek Lawgivers - John Lewis - Google Books

Douglas Maurice MacDowell (1986). The Law in Classical Athens. Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-9365-X.  PDF

Peter John Rhodes (2004). Athenian Democracy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-522140-4.

Harald Haarmann (2014). Roots of Ancient Greek Civilization: The Influence of Old Europe. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-1589-9.

S. C. Todd (1995). The Shape of Athenian Law. Clarendon. ISBN 978-0-19-815023-7.

Lloyd L. Weinreb (1987). Natural Law and Justice. Chapter 1 Kosmos: Harvard University Press. pp. 15–. ISBN 978-0-674-60426-1.

Adriaan Lanni (27 February 2006). Law and Justice in the Courts of Classical Athens. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-45265-6.

Classical Athens and the Delphic oracle : divination and democracy : Bowden, Hugh - Internet Archive

Leonard Whibley (1905). A Companion to Greek Studies. LAW University Press. pp.464-90
https://archive.org/details/companiontogreek00whibuoft/page/464/mode/1up

Michael Gagarin; David Cohen (12 September 2005). The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Law. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-82689-1.

Alan Boegehold, Three Court Days, Introduction

Early Greek law (1986 edition) by Michael Gagarin - Open Library

Greek Sacred Law: a collection of new documents: Eran Lupu - Internet Archive

Law and Drama in Ancient Greece - Google Books

Boegehold, Alan L., et al. “The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings, Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia.” The Athenian Agora, vol. 28, The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 1995, pp. iii–256, https://doi.org/10.2307/3602008. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3602008.

Alan Boegehold, Three Court Days, 

Douglas M. MacDowell (1999). Athenian Homicide Law in the Age of the Orators. Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0-7190-5742-7.

Edwin Carawan (26 February 1998). Rhetoric and the Law of Draco. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-158454-1.
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL698383M/Rhetoric_and_the_law_of_Draco
R. K. Sinclair (30 August 1991). Democracy and Participation in Athens. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-42389-2.

Edward M. Harris (17 April 2006). Democracy and the Rule of Law in Classical Athens: Essays on Law, Society, and Politics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-45689-0.

Law and Drama in Ancient Greece. A&C Black. 16 October 2013. ISBN 978-1-4725-1985-6.

The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings, Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia
Author(s): Alan L. Boegehold, John McK. Camp, II, Margaret Crosby, Mabel Lang, David R.Jordan and Rhys F. Townsend
Source: The Athenian Agora, Vol. 28, The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings,Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia (1995), pp. iii-v+vii-xxviii+1+3-51+53-113+115+117-241+243+245-256
Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3602008





Dikasteria/Court - Ancient Greece



The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings, Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia
Author(s): Alan L. Boegehold, John McK. Camp, II, Margaret Crosby, Mabel Lang, David R.Jordan and Rhys F. Townsend
Source: The Athenian Agora, Vol. 28, The Lawcourts at Athens: Sites, Buildings,Equipment, Procedure, and Testimonia (1995), pp. iii-v+vii-xxviii+1+3-51+53-113+115+117-241+243+245-25
Published by: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3602008

The Establishment of the Public Courts at Athens
Author(s): Stanley Barney Smith
Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 56(1925), pp. 106-119
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Factional Conflict and Solon's Reforms
Author(s): J. R. Ellis and G. R. Stanton
Source: Phoenix, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Summer, 1968), pp. 95-110
Published by: Classical Association of Canada
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1086835

Did democracy transform Athenian space?
Author(s): Robin Osborne
Source: British School at Athens Studies, Vol. 15, BUILDING COMMUNITIES: House,Settlement and Society in the Aegean and Beyond (2007), pp. 195-199
Published by: British School at Athens
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The Athenian Courts for Homicide
Author(s): Raphael Sealey
Source: Classical Philology, Vol. 78, No. 4 (Oct., 1983), pp. 275-296
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The Role of Ephialtes in the Rise of Athenian Democracy
Author(s): Lesley Ann Jones
Source: Classical Antiquity, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Apr., 1987), pp. 53-76
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Ephialtes
Author(s): Raphael Sealey
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 Democracy Denied: Why Ephialtes Attacked the Areiopagus
Author(s): T. E. Rihll
Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 115 (1995), pp. 87-98
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DIKASTIC PARTICIPATION 
Author(s): DAVID C. MIRHADY and CARL SCHWARZ 
Source: The Classical Quarterly, New Series, Vol. 61, No. 2 (DECEMBER 2011), pp. 744-748 
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Dow, Sterling. “Aristotle, the Kleroteria, and the Courts.” Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, vol. 50, Department of the Classics, Harvard University, 1939, pp. 1–34, https://doi.org/10.2307/310590. https://www.jstor.org/stable/310590.

Themistokles' Archonship
Author(s): H. T. Wade-Gery
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The Cleroterium
Author(s): J. D. Bishop
Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 90 (1970), pp. 1-14
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The Oikos in Athenian Law
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Law-Making at Athens in the Fourth Century B.C.
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The Journal of Hellenic Studies
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 Draco in the Hearts of His Countrymen
Author(s): Alfred C. Schlesinger
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The Republication of Draco's Law on Homicide 
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Edwin Carawan. (2016). Court Reform, Klērōtēria, and Comic Testimony. The Classical Journal, 111(4), 385–416. https://doi.org/10.5184/classicalj.111.4.0385 
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La législation de Solon : une solution à la crise agraire d'Athènes ?
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Calhoun, George Miller. “The Jurisprudence of the Greek City.” Columbia Law Review, vol. 24, no. 2, Columbia Law Review Association, Inc., 1924, pp. 154–71, https://doi.org/10.2307/1112846.

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The Oxford classical dictionary: boulé - Internet Archive



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Saturday, 23 May 2020

History and Origins of Comedy

Ancient Greek Comedy is probably of Greek origin. While we cannot definitively identify "proponents" of Middle Comedy in the same way we can for Old and New Comedy, some names are often associated with this period:
  • Eupolis: Although primarily known for his Old Comedies, some scholars believe his later works might show a transition towards Middle Comedy.
  • Aristophanes' Later Plays: As mentioned, Aristophanes' final plays, like "The Frogs" and "Ecclesiazusae," exhibit a shift in style and focus, potentially hinting at Middle Comedy elements.
  • Other Less Known Playwrights: Names like Cratinus the Younger, Antiphanes, and Alexis appear in ancient sources and are often linked to Middle Comedy, though our knowledge of their work is limited.
ater antiquity than Ancient Greek Tragedy. The word Comedy probably originates from the singing and jesting (ode ᾠδή) by a drunken band of revellers in procession (komos κῶμος) at a festival held in honour of the god of wine, Dionysos. κωμῳδία - Wiktionary
Aristotle gives the following description for the origin of Comedy in his work on Poetics Aristotle, Poetics, section 1448a Aristotle, Poetics, section 1448b Aristotle, Poetics, section 1449a Aristotle, Poetics, section 1449b "So that as an imitator Sophocles will be on one side akin to Homer, both portraying good men; and on another to Aristophanes, since both present their personages as acting and doing. This in fact, according to some, is the reason for plays being termed dramas, because in a play the personages act the story. Hence too both Tragedy and Comedy are claimed by the Dorians as their discoveries; Comedy by the Megarians—by those in Greece as having arisen when Megara became a democracy, and by the Sicilian Megarians on the ground that the poet Epicharmus was of their country, and a good deal earlier than Chionides and Magnes; even Tragedy also is claimed by certain of the Peloponnesian Dorians. In support of this claim they point to the words ’comedy’ and ’drama’. Their word for the outlying hamlets, they say, is comae, whereas Athenians call them demes—thus assuming that comedians got the name not from their comoe or revels, but from their strolling from hamlet to hamlet, lack of appreciation keeping them out of the city. Their word also for ’to act’, they say, is dran, whereas Athenians use prattein."

So much, then, as to the number and nature of the points of difference in the imitation of these arts.


[IV]
It is clear that the general origin of poetry was due to two causes, each of them part of human nature. Imitation is natural to man from childhood, one of his advantages over the lower animals being this, that he is the most imitative creature in the world, and learns at first by imitation. And it is also natural for all to delight in works of imitation. The truth of this second point is shown by experience: though the objects themselves may be painful to see, we delight to view the most realistic representations of them in art, the forms for example of the lowest animals and of dead bodies. The explanation is to be found in a further fact: to be learning something is the greatest of pleasures not only to the philosopher but also to the rest of mankind, however small their capacity for it; the reason of the delight in seeing the picture is that one is at the same time learning—gathering the meaning of things, e.g. that the man there is so-and-so; for if one has not seen the thing before, one’s pleasure will not be in the picture as an imitation of it, but will be due to the execution or colouring or some similar cause. Imitation, then, being natural to us—as also the sense of harmony and rhythm, the metres being obviously species of rhythms—it was through their original aptitude, and by a series of improvements for the most part gradual on their first efforts, that they created poetry out of their improvisations.

Poetry, however, soon broke up into two kinds according to the differences of character in the individual poets; for the graver among them would represent noble actions, and those of noble personages; and the meaner sort the actions of the ignoble. The latter class produced invectives at first, just as others did hymns and panegyrics. We know of no such poem by any of the pre-Homeric poets, though there were probably many such writers among them; instances, however, may be found from Homer downwards, e.g. his Margites, and the similar poems of others. In this poetry of invective its natural fitness brought an iambic metre into use; hence our present term ’iambic’, because it was the metre of their ’iambs’ or invectives against one another. The result was that the old poets became some of them writers of heroic and others of iambic verse. Homer’s position, however, is peculiar: just as he was in the serious style the poet of poets, standing alone not only through the literary excellence, but also through the dramatic character of his imitations, so too he was the first to outline for us the general forms of Comedy by producing not a dramatic invective, but a dramatic picture of the Ridiculous; his Margites in fact stands in the same relation to our comedies as the Iliad and Odyssey to our tragedies. As soon, however, as Tragedy and Comedy appeared in the field, those naturally drawn to the one line of poetry became writers of comedies instead of iambs, and those naturally drawn to the other, writers of tragedies instead of epics, because these new modes of art were grander and of more esteem than the old.

If it be asked whether Tragedy is now all that it need be in its formative elements, to consider that, and decide it theoretically and in relation to the theatres, is a matter for another inquiry.

It certainly began in improvisations—as did also Comedy; the one originating with the authors of the Dithyramb, the other with those of the phallic songs, which still survive as institutions in many of our cities. And its advance after that was little by little, through their improving on whatever they had before them at each stage. It was in fact only after a long series of changes that the movement of Tragedy stopped on its attaining to its natural form. (1) The number of actors was first increased to two by Aeschylus, who curtailed the business of the Chorus, and made the dialogue, or spoken portion, take the leading part in the play. (2) A third actor and scenery were due to Sophocles. (3) Tragedy acquired also its magnitude. Discarding short stories and a ludicrous diction, through its passing out of its satyric stage, it assumed, though only at a late point in its progress, a tone of dignity; and its metre changed then from trochaic to iambic. The reason for their original use of the trochaic tetrameter was that their poetry was satyric and more connected with dancing than it now is. As soon, however, as a spoken part came in, nature herself found the appropriate metre. The iambic, we know, is the most speakable of metres, as is shown by the fact that we very often fall into it in conversation, whereas we rarely talk hexameters, and only when we depart from the speaking tone of voice. (4) Another change was a plurality of episodes or acts. As for the remaining matters, the superadded embellishments and the account of their introduction, these must be taken as said, as it would probably be a long piece of work to go through the details.


As for Comedy, it is (as has been observed) an imitation of men worse than the average; worse, however, not as regards any and every sort of fault, but only as regards one particular kind, the Ridiculous, which is a species of the Ugly. The Ridiculous may be defined as a mistake or deformity not productive of pain or harm to others; the mask, for instance, that excites laughter, is something ugly and distorted without causing pain.

Though the successive changes in Tragedy and their authors are not unknown, we cannot say the same of Comedy; its early stages passed unnoticed, because it was not as yet taken up in a serious way. It was only at a late point in its progress that a chorus of comedians was officially granted by the archon; they used to be mere volunteers. It had also already certain definite forms at the time when the record of those termed comic poets begins. Who it was who supplied it with masks, or prologues, or a plurality of actors and the like, has remained unknown. The invented Fable, or Plot, however, originated in Sicily, with Epicharmus and Phormis; of Athenian poets Crates was the first to drop the Comedy of invective and frame stories of a general and non-personal nature, in other words, Fables or Plots.

Epic poetry, then, has been seen to agree with Tragedy to this extent, that of being an imitation of serious subjects in a grand kind of verse. It differs from it, however, (1) in that it is in one kind of verse and in narrative form; and (2) in its length—which is due to its action having no fixed limit of time, whereas Tragedy endeavours to keep as far as possible within a single circuit of the sun, or something near that. This, I say, is another point of difference between them, though at first the practice in this respect was just the same in tragedies as i.e.ic poems. They differ also (3) in their constituents, some being common to both and others peculiar to Tragedy—hence a judge of good and bad in Tragedy is a judge of that in epic poetry also. All the parts of an epic are included in Tragedy; but those of Tragedy are not all of them to be found in the Epic."

Epicharmus of Kos - Wikipedia Phormis - Wikipedia Megara Hyblaea - Wikipedia Megara - Wikipedia
The Origin of Attic Comedy : Francis Macdonald Cornford - Internet Archive

In the 4th century BC Magna Graecia [Sicily and Southern Italy] evolved its own form of comedy drama known as a Phylax Play:-

Phlyax play - Wikipedia
References

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The dramas and dramatic dances of non-European races in special reference to the origin of Greek tragedy, with an appendix on the origin of Greek comedy by William Ridgeway
https://archive.org/stream/dramasdramaticda00ridg

The Greek theater and its drama p.35- The Origin of Comedy by Roy Flickinger


Ancient Greek Comedy - Ancient History Encyclopedia

Carrière Jean-Claude. Le carnaval et la politique. Une introduction à la Comédie grecque, suivie d'un choix de fragments. Besançon : Université de Franche-Comté, 1983. 362 p. (Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon, 212)
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Gregory Michael Sifakis (1971). Parabasis and Animal Choruses: A Contribution to the History of Attic Comedy. G. M. Sifakis. ISBN 978-0-485-11126-2.

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A Companion to Greek Studies. § 161 - 162 Origin of Attic Comedy § 163 Aristophanes: CUP Archive. 1905. pp. 144–.

Ian Christopher Storey (2003). Eupolis, Poet of Old Comedy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-925992-2.

Ian C. Storey (30 June 2011). FRAGMENTS OF OLD COMEDY, VOLUME I. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99662-5.

Ian C. Storey (30 June 2011). FRAGMENTS OF OLD COMEDY, VOLUME II. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99663-2.Ian C. Storey (30 June 2011). FRAGMENTS OF OLD COMEDY, VOLUME III. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-99677-9.


David Harvey; John Wilkins (31 December 2002). The Rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy. Classical Press of Wales. ISBN 978-1-910589-59-5.
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 Erich Segal (30 June 2009). The Death of Comedy. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-04341-1.

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Jeffrey Rusten (2 May 2011). The Birth of Comedy: Texts, Documents, and Art from Athenian Comic Competitions, 486–280. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9448-0. 

Fendt, G. (2007). THE PURPOSE OF COMEDY. In Love Song for the Life of the Mind: An Essay on the Purpose of Comedy (pp. 108–177). Catholic University of America Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt284x0d.9

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Sidwell, K., Dover, K., & Tristram, M. (2000). FROM OLD TO MIDDLE TO NEW?: ARISTOTLE’S POETICS AND THE HISTORY OF ATHENIAN COMEDY. In D. Harvey & J. Wilkins (Eds.), The Rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy (pp. 247–258). Classical Press of Wales. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvvnbsh.22

The Comic Body in Ancient Greek Theatre and Art, 440-320 BCE - Alexa Piqueux - Google Books

The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy - Google Books

Gregory Dobrov (16 February 2010). Brill's Companion to the Study of Greek Comedy. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-18884-6.

 Emmanuela Bakola; Lucia Prauscello; Mario Telo (18 April 2013). Greek Comedy and the Discourse of Genres. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-03331-3.

On Susarion

Who "Invented" Comedy? The Ancient Candidates for the Origins of Comedy and the Visual Evidence
Jeffrey Rusten
The American Journal of Philology
Vol. 127, No. 1 (Spring, 2006), pp. 37-66
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3804923

Edward Capps (1903). The Introduction of Comedy Into the City Dionysia: A Chronological Study in Greek Literary History. University of Chicago Press.

 Bierl, Anton. 2009. Ritual and Performativity: The Chorus in Old Comedy. Hellenic Studies Series 20. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies.http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_Bierl.Ritual_and_Performativity.2009.

 An Unrecognized Actor in Greek Comedy
John Williams White
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
Vol. 17 (1906), pp. 103-129 (27 pages)
Published by: Department of the Classics, Harvard University
DOI: 10.2307/310312
https://www.jstor.org/stable/310312

Susarion

Susarion's name is mentioned on the Parian Marble. For Parian Marble see Parian Chronicle - Wikipedia

The Parian Marble was composed in 264/63 BC. It nominates him as comedy's supposed inventor.

Since the time when a chorus of comic performers was established at Athens, the Icarians having been the first to stage it, Susarion having invented it, and as the first prize was established a wicker basket of figs and a bulk measure of wine [it was ... years, when the archon at Athens was ...  .] 

The dates are missing from the inscription but its position on the marble indicate that the following date range is appropriate:  between 582 and 561 BC. Susarion's name could mean Arion from Susa.

There is a theory which suggests that the Doric origins of Old Comedy are based on the phallus and padded costumes of the Corinthian komos dancers, as illustrated on some vases which originate from there, and that Susarion's comic choruses was one of these.

Approximate Dates for the Different Eras of the Types of Comedy [after Ian Storey]

Old Comedy: 486 bc to Death of Aristophanes ca 385 bc.

Old Comedy was a vibrant and satirical form of theatre in Ancient Greece, characterised by its political and social commentary, often delivered with scathing wit and outrageous humour. While many playwrights contributed to this genre, one name stands out above the rest:  

Aristophanes

The undisputed master of Old Comedy.
His surviving plays offer a fascinating window into Athenian life and politics.
Known for his sharp wit, political satire, and innovative use of poetic language.

Some of his most famous works include Lysistrata, The Birds, The Clouds, and The Frogs.

While Aristophanes is the most prominent figure, it's important to remember that he was not the only playwright of Old Comedy. Other significant contributors include:

Cratinus: Known for his satirical attacks on contemporary figures and social issues.
Eupolis: Renowned for his sharp wit and personal attacks on political opponents.
Pherecrates: Less known than Aristophanes and Eupolis, but contributed to the development of Old Comedy.

Middle Comedy: ca 385 bc to 325 bc.

Middle Comedy is often seen as a bridge between the overtly political and personal satire of Old Comedy and the more domestic and character-driven focus of New Comedy.
Eupolis: Although primarily known for his Old Comedies, some scholars believe his later works might show a transition towards Middle Comedy.
Aristophanes' Later Plays: As mentioned,
Aristophanes' final plays, like "The Frogs" and "Ecclesiazusae," exhibit a shift in style and focus, potentially hinting at Middle Comedy elements.

Other Less Known Playwrights: Names like Cratinus the Younger, Antiphanes, and Alexis appear in ancient sources and are often linked to Middle Comedy, though our knowledge of their work is limited.

New Comedy: ca 325 bc to to mid 3rd century bc.

Menander is undoubtedly the most prominent figure in New Comedy. His works, though mostly lost, have significantly influenced later comedy, including Roman playwrights like Plautus and Terence. We know of his style through fragments and adaptations. His plays often revolved around domestic situations, love, and mistaken identities.  

While Menander stands out, it's important to note that other playwrights contributed to New Comedy, though their works have survived to a lesser extent. Some notable names include:

Philemon: A contemporary of Menander, known for his sentimental and romantic comedies.
Diphilus: Another contemporary who explored a variety of themes, including love, family, and social issues.

Unfortunately, due to the loss of many New Comedy plays, our understanding of these playwrights is limited. Menander, however, remains the central figure and the most studied playwright of this era.

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