Hermippus (; fl. 5th century BC) was the one-eyed

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

writer of the

Old Comedy Old Comedy 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 their daring pol ...

, who flourished during the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

Life

He was the son of Lysis, and the brother of the comic poet Myrtilus. He was younger than Telecleides and older than

Eupolis Eupolis (; 446 411 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War. Biography Very little is known about Eupolis' life. His father was named Sosipolis. There are few sources on when he first ...

and

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

. According to the

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; ; ) is a large 10th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine encyclopedia of the History of the Mediterranean region, ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas () or Souidas (). It is an ...

, he wrote forty plays, and his chief actor was Simeron, according to the

scholia Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient a ...

st of Aristophanes. The titles and fragments of nine of his plays are preserved. He was a bitter opponent of

Pericles Pericles (; ; –429 BC) was a Greek statesman and general during the Golden Age of Athens. He was prominent and influential in Ancient Athenian politics, particularly between the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War, and was acclaimed ...

, whom he accused (probably in the ''Moirai'') of being a bully and a coward, and of carousing with his boon companions while the

Lacedaemon Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

ians were invading

Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...

. He also accused

Aspasia Aspasia (; ; after 428 BC) was a ''metic'' woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son named Pericles the Younger. According to the traditional h ...

of impiety and offences against morality, and her acquittal was only secured by the tears of Pericles (

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

, ''Pericles'', 32). In the "Female Bread-Sellers", he attacked the

demagogue A demagogue (; ; ), or rabble-rouser, is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, Appeal to emotion, appealing to emo ...

Hyperbolus Hyperbolus (, ''Hyperbolos''; died 412/411 BC) was an Athenian politician active during the first half of the Peloponnesian war, coming to particular prominence after the death of Cleon. In 416 or 415 BC, he was the last Athenian to be ostraci ...

. The "Mat-Carriers" contains many parodies of

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient 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. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Surviving titles and fragments

Ninety-four fragments of Hermippus' work survive, along with the following nine titles: * ''Athenas Gonai'' ("Birth of Athena") * ''Artopolides'' ("Female Bread-Sellers") * ''Demotai'' ("Citizens") * ''Europa'' ("

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliffs, Alexan ...

") * ''Theoi'' ("Gods") * ''Kerkopes'' ("

Cercopes In Greek mythology, the Cercopes (, plural of Κέρκωψ, from κέρκος (''n''.) ''kerkos'' "tail") were mischievous forest creatures who lived in Thermopylae or on Euboea but roamed the world and might turn up anywhere mischief was afoo ...

") * ''Moirai'' ("Fates") * ''Stratiotai'' ("Soldiers") * ''Phormophoroi'' ("Mat-Carriers") Hermippus also appears to have written scurrilous iambic poems after the manner of

Archilochus Archilochus (; ''Arkhílokhos''; 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Iambus (genre) , iambic poet of the Archaic Greece, Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the earliest ...

.Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), p. 9 Other types of works written by Hermippus cited by ancient writers include

trimeter In poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addi ...

s and

tetrameter In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet. However, the particular foot can vary, as follows: * '' Anapestic tetrameter:'' ** "And the ''sheen'' of their ''spears'' was like ''stars'' on the ''sea''" (Lord Byron, " The Destruction ...

Fragments

* Theodor Kock. ''Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta'', i. (1880). *

Augustus Meineke Johann Albrecht Friedrich August Meineke (also ''Augustus Meineke''; ; 8 December 179012 December 1870), Germany, German classical philology, classical scholar, was born at Soest, Germany, Soest in the Duchy of Westphalia. He was father-in-law to ...

. ''Poetarum Graecorum comicorum fragmenta'', (1855). * C. Austin and Rudolf Kassel. '' Poetae Comici Graeci''.

References

Sources

* 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Athenian dramatists and playwrights Old Comic poets Ancient Greek iambic poets 5th-century BC Greek poets Athenians of the Peloponnesian War Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Culture in Classical Athens {{AncientGreece-writer-stub