Hegemon of

Thasos Thasos or Thassos ( el, Θάσος, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate r ...

( el, Ἡγήμων ό Θάσιος) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

writer of the

Old Comedy Old Comedy (''archaia'') is the first period of the ancient Greek comedy, according to the canonical division by the Alexandrian grammarians.Mastromarco (1994) p.12 The most important Old Comic playwright is Aristophanes – whose works, with the ...

. Hardly anything is known of him, except that he flourished during the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of ...

. According to

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ...

(''Poetics'', ii. 5) he was the inventor of a kind of

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

; by slightly altering the wording in well-known poems he transformed the sublime into the ridiculous. When the news of the disastrous defeat of the

Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a de ...

reached

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, his parody of the '' Gigantomachia'' was being performed: it is said that the audience were so amused by it that, instead of leaving to show their grief, they remained in their seats. He was also the author of a comedy called ''Philinne'' (Philine), written in the manner of

Eupolis Eupolis ( grc-gre, Εὔπολις; c. 446c. 411 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Biography Nothing whatsoever is known of his personal history. His father was named Sosipolis. ...

and

Cratinus Cratinus ( grc-gre, Κρατῖνος; 519 BC – 422 BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy. Life Cratinus was victorious 27 known times, eight times at the City Dionysia, first probably in the mid-to-late 450s BCE (IG II2 2325. 50), ...

, in which he attacked a well-known

courtesan Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or othe ...

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of ...

(p. 698), who preserves some parodic

hexameter Hexameter is a metrical line of verses consisting of six feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English line of poetry; in Greek and Latin a "foot" is not an accent, but describes various combinations of syllables). It w ...

s of his, relates other anecdotes concerning him (pp. 5, 108, 407).

Criticisms

's ''

Poetics Poetics is the theory of structure, form, and discourse within literature, and, in particular, within poetry. History The term ''poetics'' derives from the Ancient Greek ποιητικός ''poietikos'' "pertaining to poetry"; also "creative" an ...

'', Aristotle states "

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

, for example, makes men better than they are; Cleophon as they are; Hegemon the Thasian, the inventor of parodies, and

Nicochares Nicochares ( el, Νικοχάρης, died ca. 345 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, son of the comic playwright Philonides and contemporary with Aristophanes.Suda ν 407 The titles of Nicochares' plays, as enumerated by Suidas, are, ''� ...

, the author of the

Diliad The ''Diliad'', or ''Deiliad'' ( "''cowardice''", a pun on the '' Iliad''), is a lost parody of the ''Iliad'' mentioned in Aristotle’s '' Poetics'' where it is attributed to Nicochares. References Ancient Greek comedies Lost poems ...

, worse than they are."

Sources

* This work in turn cites: ** T. Kock, ''Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta'', i. (1880). This work has fragments of Hegemon's works. ** B. J. Peltzer, ''De parodica Graecorum poesi'' (1855) See also ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (=''OCD''), edited by S. Hornblower et al., Oxford 2012, s.v. Hegemon, of Thasos, p. 652. This article in turn cites: Fragments: * Parody: P. Brandt, ''Corpusculum poesis epicae graece ludibundae'' 1 (1888), 37-49 * Comedy: PCG5. 546-7. Interpretation: * Meineke, FCG 1. 214 f.; * Wilamowitz, Hermes 1905, 173 f. (= Kl. Schr. 4 (1962), 220 f.; * A. Körte, RE 7/2 (1912), 2595 f. 'Hegemon' 3; * D. Panomitros, Parnassus 45 (2003), 145–62. See also D. Panomitros,"Hegemon of Thasos and Pleasure from Parody, Ancient Testimonies and Eustathius on the Parodist", Proceedings of the XIth Congress of FIEC, v.3, Athens 2004:504-513.

References

{{authority control Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Old Comic poets Ancient Thasians 5th-century BC Greek people Parodies of literature Metics in Classical Athens Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown