Eupolis, Poet of Old Comedy

Eupolis (fl. 429-411 BC) was one of the best-attested and most important of Aristophanes' rivals. No complete work by this lost master has survived, but of his fourteen plays we have 500 fragments. These include 120 lines of his best-known comedy, Demoi (The Demes), which were discovered and published in 1911. Even in fragmentary form, Eupolis' plays shed interesting light on the whole range of issues - political, poetic, and dramatic - that make Aristophanes so perennially fascinating. There has, however, been no substantial survey in English until now. As well as providing a new translation of all the remaining fragments and a separate essay on each lost play, Ian C. Storey discusses Eupolis' career, redates the plays, examines how Eupolis was known in the ancient world, explores his relationship with Aristophanes (as both rival and collaborator), and delineates the distinct nature of the comedy that this prizewinning poet created.