Strattis
Encyclopedia
Strattis was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy
. According to the Suda
, he flourished later than Callias Schoenion
. He must have begun to exhibit in the 92nd Olympiad
, that is, 412 BC. He was contemporary with Sannyrion
and Philyllius
, both of whom are attacked in the extant fragments of his plays. The drama in which Philyllius was attacked was the Potamioi. According to the scholiast of Aristophanes, it was brought out before Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae
. Therefore could not be later than 394/3 BC. Also, in his Anthroporrhaistes, he attacked Hegelochus, the actor of the Orestes
of Euripides. Therefore this play must be brought out later than 408 BC, the year in which the Orestes was exhibited. He was exhibiting at the end of the 99th Olympiad, that is, 380 BC, when he attacked Isocrates
on account of his fondness for Lagisca when he was far advanced in years. The Suda
gave a list of his works:
This list is not complete. Other writers mention four more plays:
Some authors call him, inaccurately, Strato. Some scholars believed the comic poets Strato and Strattis to be the same person, but this idea is now considered by most classicists as undoubtedly erroneous.
Old Comedy
Old Comedy is the first period of the ancient Greek comedy, according to the canonical division by the Alexandrian grammarians. The most important Old Comic playwright is Aristophanes, whose works, with their pungent political satire and abundance of sexual and scatological innuendo, effectively...
. According to the Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
, he flourished later than Callias Schoenion
Callias (comic poet)
Callias Schoenion was a poet of the Old Comedy, not to be confused with the three Athenian aristocrats named Callias, the last of which, Callias III, appears in Plato's Protagoras....
. He must have begun to exhibit in the 92nd Olympiad
Olympiad
An Olympiad is a period of four years, associated with the Olympic Games of Classical Greece. In the Hellenistic period, beginning with Ephorus, Olympiads were used as calendar epoch....
, that is, 412 BC. He was contemporary with Sannyrion
Sannyrion
Sannyrion was an Athenian comic poet of the late 5th century BC, and a contemporary of Diocles and Philyllius, according to the Suda. He belonged to the later years of Old Comedy and the start of the Middle Comedy. He ridiculed the pronunciation of Hegelochus, the actor in Euripides' Orestes,...
and Philyllius
Philyllius
Philyllius was an ancient Athenian comic poet. He was comtempoary with Diocles and Sannyrion. He belonged to the latter part of the Old Comedy tradition and the beginning of the Middle Comedy tradition...
, both of whom are attacked in the extant fragments of his plays. The drama in which Philyllius was attacked was the Potamioi. According to the scholiast of Aristophanes, it was brought out before Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae
Assemblywomen
Aristophanes' Ecclesiazusae is a play dating from 391 BCE which is similar in theme to Lysistrata in that a large portion of the comedy comes from women involving themselves in politics...
. Therefore could not be later than 394/3 BC. Also, in his Anthroporrhaistes, he attacked Hegelochus, the actor of the Orestes
Orestes (play)
Orestes is an Ancient Greek play by Euripides that follows the events of Orestes after he had murdered his mother.-Background:...
of Euripides. Therefore this play must be brought out later than 408 BC, the year in which the Orestes was exhibited. He was exhibiting at the end of the 99th Olympiad, that is, 380 BC, when he attacked Isocrates
Isocrates
Isocrates , an ancient Greek rhetorician, was one of the ten Attic orators. In his time, he was probably the most influential rhetorician in Greece and made many contributions to rhetoric and education through his teaching and written works....
on account of his fondness for Lagisca when he was far advanced in years. The Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
gave a list of his works:
- Anthroporrhaistes (Ἀνθρωπορραιστής)
- Atalante (Ἀταλάντη)
- Good Men or Argyriou aphanismos (Ἀγαθοί ἤτοι Ἀργυρίου ἀφανισμός)
- Iphigeron (Ἰφιγέρων)
- Callippides (Καλλιππίδης)
- Cinesias (Κινησίας)
- Limnomedon (Λιμνομέδων)
- Macedonians or Pausanias (Μακεδόνες ἢ Παυσανίας)
- Medea (Μήδεια)
- Troilus (Τρωΐλος)
- Phoenician Women (Φοίνισσαι)
- Philoctetes (Φιλοκτήτης)
- Chrysippus (Χρύσιππος)
- Psychastae (Ψυχασταί)
This list is not complete. Other writers mention four more plays:
- Zopyros perikaiomenos (Ζώπυρος περικαιόμενος)
- Myrmidons (Μυρμιδόνες)
- Potamioi (Ποτάμιοι)
- Pytisos (Πυτίσιος)
Some authors call him, inaccurately, Strato. Some scholars believed the comic poets Strato and Strattis to be the same person, but this idea is now considered by most classicists as undoubtedly erroneous.
Studies
- Christian Orth, Strattis: die Fragmente. Ein Kommentar (Berlin: Verlag Antike, 2009) (Studia comica, 2).