Ricerc@Sapienza

A note on line 1194 of Aristophanes’ Wealth mentions the names of two of the earliest scholars of comedy in Alexandria, Lycophron of Chalcis and Eratosthenes of Cyrene. The object of their discussion, the mention of torches at the end of fifth-century comedies, could betray an interest in the evolution of Attic drama, in particular in the origins of dramatic conventions that became stereotyped in fourth- and third-century plays. It is unlikely, however, that Lycophron and Eratosthenes formally divided comedy into three phases, old, middle and new, a periodization that belongs to a later stage of studies on Attic theatre.