Phrynichus (; grc-gre, Φρύνιχος), son of Polyphradmon and pupil of Thespis, was one of the earliest of the

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 ...

tragedians. Some ancients regarded him as the real founder of tragedy. Phrynichus is said to have died in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. His son Polyphrasmon was also a playwright. Phyrynichus wrote two out of the three known Greek tragedies that dealt with contemporary history from episodes from the

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...

(no longer extant).

Works

He gained his first victory in a drama contest in 511 BC. His famous play, the ''Capture of Miletus'' or the ''Sack of Miletus'', was probably composed shortly after the conquest of that city by the

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ns during the

Ionian Revolt The Ionian Revolt, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus and Caria, were military rebellions by several Greek regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 BC to 493 BC. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisf ...

. Miletus was a

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

of Athens and therefore traditionally held especially dear to the mother city. The audience was moved to tears by Phrynichus' tragedy, with the poet being fined "", "for reminding familiar misfortunes". As a result, the play was banned from being performed again. (

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

6.21.10) In 476 BC, Phrynichus was successful with the ''Phoenissae'', called after the

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n women who formed the chorus. This drama celebrated the defeat of

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of D ...

at the Battle of Salamis four years earlier.

Themistocles Themistocles (; grc-gre, Θεμιστοκλῆς; c. 524–459 BC) was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of non-aristocratic politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy. As ...

provided the funds as ''

choregos In the theatre of ancient Greece, the ''choregos'' (pl. ''choregoi; el, χορηγός, Greek etymology: χορός "chorus" + ἡγεῖσθαι "to lead") was a wealthy Athenian citizen who assumed the public duty, or ''choregiai'', of financ ...

'' (producer), and one of the objectives of the play was to remind the Athenians of his great deeds. The ''Persians'' of

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

(472 BC) was modeled after the ''Phoenissae''. The titles of his other known plays (''Actaeon'', ''Alcestis'', ''Antaeus'', ''Daughters of Danaus'', ''Egyptians'', ''Pleuroniai'', and ''Tantalus'') show that he dealt with mythological as well as contemporary subjects. He introduced a separate actor, as distinct from the leader of the chorus, and thus laid the foundation for theatrical dialogue. But in his plays, as in the early tragedies generally, the dramatic element was subordinate to the lyric element as represented by the chorus and the dance. According to the '' Suda'', Phrynichus first introduced female characters on the stage (played by men in masks), and made special use of the

trochaic tetrameter Trochaic tetrameter is a meter in poetry. It refers to a line of four trochaic feet. The etymology of the word Trochaic is the Greek word ''trokhaios'', from the verb ''trecho'', which means "I run". In classical metre, a trochee is a foot cons ...

Recognition

Aelian (

Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus ( grc, Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Greek transliteration ''Kláudios Ailianós''; c. 175c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severu ...

), in his ''Varia Historia'' (3.8), says that Phrynichus' martial verses so stirred the people of

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 ...

, they made him a general. Fragments of his work exist in

Johann August Nauck Johann August Nauck (18 September 1822 – 3 August 1892) was a German classical scholar and critic. His chief work was the ''Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta'' (''TrGF''). Biography Nauck was born at Auerstedt in present-day Thuringia. He ...

's ''Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta'' (1887), pp 720–725.

Notes

# Buckham, p. 108: "The honour of introducing Tragedy in its later acceptation was reserved for a scholar of Thespis in 511 BC, Polyphradmon's son, Phrynichus; he dropped the light and ludicrous cast of the original drama and dismissing Bacchus and the Satyrs formed his plays from the more grave and elevated events recorded in mythology and history of his country." # Plato, ''Minos'' 321a: "Now tragedy is a thing of ancient standing here; it did not begin, as people suppose, from Thespis or from Phrynicus, but if you will reflect, you will find it is a very ancient invention of our city." # Suda φ 762

References

* * * *''The Oxford Classical Dictionary'', p. 1177. *

External links

''Tragicorum graecorum fragmenta''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phrynichus 6th-century BC Athenians 5th-century BC Athenians 6th-century BC poets 5th-century BC poets 6th-century BC births 5th-century BC deaths Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Tragic poets Ionian Revolt

Works

Recognition

See also

Notes

References

External links