Comic Rivalry and the Number of Comic Poets at the Lenaia of 405 B. C

This paper considers further evidence that five comic poets as opposed to three competed at the Lenaia and City Dionysia festivals in Athens during the Peloponnesian War. Aristophanes’ abuse of his comic rivals Phrynichos, Ameipsias and Lykis in the opening scene of Frogs , produced at the Lenaia of 405, is interpreted as a response to his immediate competitors at the dramatic contest that year. A survey of the evidence elsewhere in comedy suggests that comic poets usually reserved such attacks on rival poets for occasions when all were in direct competition at the same festival. Further analysis of Aristophanes’ competitive strategies also suggests these poets immediate participation in the festival and therefore that five poets competed at the Lenaia that year

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• Aristophanes vs Phrynichus in Frogs

  Open Access•Amy S Lewis•The Classical Quarterly•2023

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• Notes on Aristophes' Wasps

  Open Access•Alan H Sommerstein•The Classical Quarterly•1977

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• A Case for Aristomenes

  Open Access•Dwora Gilula•The Classical Quarterly•1989

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• Die Zahl Der Konkurrenten an Den Komischen Agonen Zur Zeit Des Peloponnesischen Krieges

  Wolfgang Luppe•Philologus•1972

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• The Lost "Thesmophoriazusae" of Aristophanes

  James Butrica, J L Butrica•Phoenix•2001

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