Cratinus

Cratinus (Ancient Greek: Κρατῖνος; c. 519 BC – c. 422 BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the Old Comedy.

Life

Cratinus won prizes for his plays on 27 known occasions, eight¹ times at the City Dionysia, first probably in the mid-to-late 450s BCE (IG II2 2325. 50), and three times at the Lenaia, first probably in the early 430s (IG II2 2325. 121; just before Pherecrates and Hermippus). He was still competing in 423 BC, when his Pytine took the prize at the City Dionysia; he died shortly thereafter, at a very advanced age, about 97 years (test. 3).

Little is known of his personal history. His father's name was Callimedes, and he himself was a taxiarch. The Suda accuses Cratinus of immorality, excessive cowardice, and habitual intemperance. His contemporaries offer no corroboration, except for the third charge, which is sustained by many passages of Aristophanes and other writers. They also refer the "Confession of Cratinus", which Cratinus himself seems to have treated the subject in a very amusing way, especially in his Pytine.

That he was related to the 4th-century comic poet Cratinus Junior is a reasonable hypothesis but cannot be proven.

Works

Cratinus was regarded as one of the three great masters of Athenian Old Comedy (the others being Aristophanes and Eupolis). Although his poetry is several times described as relatively graceless, harsh, and crudely abusive (test. 17; 19), his plays continued to be read and studied in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. He wrote 21 comedies. They were chiefly distinguished by their direct and vigorous political satire.² 514 fragments (including ten dubia) of his comedies survive, along with 29 titles. His most famous play is the Pytine.