Three men robbing a miser in his house, in a scene from a phlyax play painted by Asteas (350–340 BCE)
A phlyax play (Ancient Greek: φλύαξ, also phlyakes), also known as a hilarotragedy (Ἱλαροτραγῳδία), was a burlesque dramatic form that developed in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the 4th century BCE. Its name derives from the Phlyakes or "Gossip Players" in Doric Greek. From the surviving titles of the plays they appear to have been a form of mythological burlesque, which mixed figures from the Greek pantheon with the stock characters and situations of Attic New Comedy.
Only five authors of the genre are known by name: Rhinthon and Sciras of Taranto, Blaesus of Capri, Sopater of Paphos and Heraklides. The plays themselves survive only as titles and a few fragments.[1] A substantial body of South Italian vases are thought to represent scenes of the phlyakes, giving rise to much speculation on Greek stagecraft and dramatic form.
^See Rudolf Kassel, Colin Austin Poetae Comici Graeci, vol. I, pp. 257–88. 2001.
A phlyaxplay (Ancient Greek: φλύαξ, also phlyakes), also known as a hilarotragedy (Ἱλαροτραγῳδία), was a burlesque dramatic form that developed in the...
and Sicily Italiot Greek: modern dialects Magna Graecia Milo of Croton Phlyaxplay Siceliotes Sicels A history of earliest Italy By Massimo Pallottino,...
fragments: Epicharmus comic poet and writers of South Italian Comedy (phlyaxplay), Mithaecus food writer and Archimedes. Aeolic is an exclusively poetic...
festival also included the Satyr Play. Finding its origins in rural, agricultural rituals dedicated to Dionysus, the satyr play eventually found its way to...
manumission could also be entirely civil, in which case the magistrate played the role of the deity. The slave’s freedom could be either total or partial...
Greek tragedy Greek chorus Satyr play List of ancient Greek playwrights List of ancient Greek theatres Phlyaxplay Representation of women in Athenian...
figures from Classical times. One of the earliest appears in the comic Phlyaxplays developed in the Greek colonies in Italy during the 4th century BCE,...
Attica. These include motifs from dramatic theatre as well as farce (phlyaxplay). In contrast, scenes of everyday life and athletic motifs disappear...
(iii) finally, in the Dorian colonies of southern Italy and Sicily, phlyaxplays were performed; and in Taranto, the Italic cradle of the dramatic art...
stood have been interpreted as the remnants of a small mobile stage for Phlyaxplays. A statue of a caryatid now preserved in the Museo archeologico regionale...
drawn from the citizen body. Already in the fifth century BC, however, plays began to be performed abroad and actors (as opposed to chorus members) became...
genera in the Trapherinae are monotypic: Aglaioptera, Eopiara, Phasiamya, Phlyax, Piara, Traphera and Xiriella. Little is known of the biology of Trapherinae...
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