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A phlyax play (, pl: , ''phlyakes''), also known as a hilarotragedy (), was a
burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.
dramatic form that developed in the
Greek colonies Greek colonisation refers to the expansion of Archaic Greeks, particularly during the 8th–6th centuries BC, across the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The Archaic expansion differed from the Iron Age migrations of the Greek Dark Ages ...
of
Magna Graecia Magna Graecia refers to the Greek-speaking areas of southern Italy, encompassing the modern Regions of Italy, Italian regions of Calabria, Apulia, Basilicata, Campania, and Sicily. These regions were Greek colonisation, extensively settled by G ...
in the 4th century BC. From the surviving fragments and titles of the plays, they appear to have been a form of
mythological Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
burlesque, which mixed figures from the Greek pantheon with the
stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...
s and situations of Attic Comedy. While the plays themselves survive only as titles and a few fragments, a substantial body of South Italian vases which survive today are generally thought to represent phlyax-related imagery. These vases depict lively and entertaining theatrical scenes of contemporary
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 ...
comedies as well as lesser known local productions. Distinct phlyax plays, blending
tragic A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain ...
and comic elements, became well defined only in the late 4th century BC onwards by the dramatist Rhinthon. Five authors of this genre are known by name; Rhinthon and Sciras of
Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...
, Blaesus of
Capri Capri ( , ; ) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrento Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. A popular resort destination since the time of the Roman Republic, its natural beauty ...
,
Sopater Sopater Orr, James, M. A., D. D. General EditorSopater ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia''. 1915. Retrieved December 9, 2005. (, ''Sṓpatros'') was the son of Pyrhus,Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...
and Heraclides.


Name

The name 'Phlyax' came to designate both the actors in the play as well as the performances as a whole. There are two possible origins of the name; either from the Greek verb ''phlyarein'' () or from the verb ''phleo'' (), both words being etymologically related. The latter is sometimes regarded as more likely given the actors' well-padded costumes that were typical for phlyax plays and also appeared frequently on Corinthian vases. Additionally, the adjective ''phleos'' or ''phleon'' () was attributed to
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
who is often portrayed as company of phlyax actors, while such performances were typically given in his honor.


Characteristics

Nossis of Locri provides the closest contemporary explanation of the genre in her
epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...
for Rhinthon:
Pass by with a loud laugh and a kindly word
For me: Rhinthon of Syracuse am I,
The Muses' little nightingale; and yet
For tragic farce I plucked an ivy wreath.
Textual and archaeological evidence give a partial picture of these burlesques of mythology and daily life. The absence of any surviving script has led some to conjecture that the plays were largely improvised. On the other hand, others have argued that it is more likely for the phlyax plays to have been in fact performed by itinerant actors who carried with them their own stage, necessary props, and costumes. Those actors would have had their own repertory of plays which they performed and might have adapted their plays, either Athenian and local productions, in order to better fit each occasion. The vase paintings indicate that they were performed on a raised wooden stage with an upper gallery, and that the actors wore grotesque costumes and
masks A mask is an object normally worn on the face, typically for protection, disguise, performance, or entertainment, and often employed for rituals and rites. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes, ...
similar to those of Attic Old Comedy. Acrobatics and farcical scenes were major features of the phlyax. The standard costume of the phlyax actors was made of tight fits that represented nudity and a large padding on the back and front, on which a phallus was attached. The actors could wear additional clothes, such as
cloak A cloak is a type of loose garment worn over clothing, mostly but not always as outerwear for outdoor wear, which serves the same purpose as an overcoat and protects the wearer from the weather. It may form part of a uniform. People in many d ...
s, which are sometimes shown painted with various colors, while their faces were covered with masks. For female roles in particular, the actors wore typical long dresses, while their masks were often painted in white. The phlyakes seems to die out by the late 3rd century, but the
Oscan Oscan is an extinct Indo-European language of southern Italy. The language is in the Osco-Umbrian or Sabellic branch of the Italic languages. Oscan is therefore a close relative of Umbrian and South Picene. Oscan was spoken by a number of t ...
inhabitants of
Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...
subsequently developed a tradition of farces, parodies, and satires influenced by late Greek models, which became popular in Rome during the 3rd century BCE. This genre was known as Atellan farce, Atella being the name of a Campanian town. Atellan farce introduced a set of stock characters such as Maccus and Bucco to Latin comedy; even in antiquity, these were thought to be the ancestors of the characters found in
Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...
, and perhaps distantly of those of ''
commedia dell'arte Commedia dell'arte was an early form of professional theatre, originating from Theatre of Italy, Italian theatre, that was popular throughout Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. It was formerly called Italian comedy in English and is a ...
''. Although an older view held that Attic comedy was the only source of
Roman comedy The architectural form of theatre in Rome has been linked to later, more well-known examples from the 1st century BC to the 3rd Century AD. The theatre of ancient Rome referred to a period of time in which theatrical practice and performance took ...
, it has been argued that Rhinthon in particular influenced Plautus's '' Amphitruo''.


Vase paintings

The so-called phlyax vases are a principal source of information on the genre. By 1967, 185 of these vases had been identified. Since depictions of theatre and especially comedy are rare in fabrics other than the South Italian, these have been thought to portray the distinctly local theatre tradition. The vases first appeared at the end of the 5th century BCE, but most are 4th century. They represent grotesque characters, the masks of comedy, and the props of comic performance such as ladders, baskets, and open windows. About a quarter of them depict a low wooden temporary stage, but whether this was used in reality is a point of contention. More recent scholarship views the early fourth-century BC phlyax vases as depicting scenes from Attic
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 ...
, rather than distinct phlyax plays, which would not become well defined until the time of Rhinthon. The Wurzburg Telephus Travestitus vase ( bell krater, H5697) was identified in 1980 as a phlyax vase, but Csapo and TaplinO. Taplin, Classical Philology, Icongraphic Parody and Potted Aristophanes, Dioniso 57, 1987, 95–109, taking the vase as evidence that Attic Old Comedy was performed outside Athens after death of Aristophanes. independently have argued that it actually represents the '' Thesmophoriazousai'' of
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 ...
.


Gallery

File:Asteas - RFVP 2-26 - Dionysos and phlyax balancing a basket - youth and woman - London BM 1772-0320-661.jpg,
Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ...
offering two eggs or fruits to a dancing Phlyax while he balances a basket on his head, BC File:Asteas - RFVP 2-33 - female acrobat on turn-table and phlyax - maenad and Dionysos - Oxford AM 1945-48 - 02.jpg, Female acrobat on a turn-table and a Phlyax, BC File:Libation Painter - LCS II-3 337 - phlyax and woman - draped youths - Frankfurt AM β 602 - 04.jpg, A wreathed Phlyax with torches dances to a woman playing the
aulos An ''aulos'' (plural ''auloi''; , plural ) or ''tibia'' (Latin) was a wind instrument in ancient Greece, often depicted in art and also attested by archaeology. Though the word ''aulos'' is often translated as "flute" or as " double flute", ...
, BC


References


Bibliography

* * *Rudolf Kassel and Colin Austin. ''Poetae Comici Graeci'', 2001. *Klaus Neiiendam. ''Art of Acting Antiquity: Iconographical Studies in Classical, Hellenistic and Byzantine Theatre''. *Oliver Taplin. ''Comic Angels: And Other Approaches to Greek Drama Through Vase-Paintings''. *Arthur Dale Trendall. ''Phlyax Vases'', 1967. *AD Trendall and TBL Webster. ''Monuments Illustrating Greek Drama'', 1971.


External links

{{Commonscatinline Ancient Greek vase painting Magna Graecia Ancient Greek comedy Ancient Greek theatre Doric Greek