The Attic theatre

The Athenian inscriptions bearing upon the drama and dramatic contests are to be found, edited by Köhler, in the Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum, ii. 2. pp. 394 ff., iv. 2. pp. 218 ff. Since their publication in this form much work has been done in reference to them by Wilhelm, Capps, and others. The following selection gives the most important inscriptions, with the conclusions which seem to be best warranted, omitting portions the restoration of which seems too uncertain to be useful.

The conjectural dates are inserted and conjectural supplements marked off by square brackets where the evidence is reasonably good: letters enclosed in round brackets simply expand the abbreviations contained in the inscription.

I. List of victors in the City Dionysia (C. I. A. ii. 971, iv. 971).

The fragments have been arranged on the hypothesis that they formed part of an inscription in 15 columns of 140 or 142 lines each: Columns 1, 2, 7-12 and 16 have been lost, as well as the greater part of the remainder. Capps conjectures that the inscription began in 502-501, and that this date was that of the beginning of choregia in tragedy and dithyramb (Capps, Introd. of Comedy into the City Dionysia, p. 29). The heading, of which at present only twelve letters remain (more widely spaced than the rest of the inscription), seems to have extended over the head of the first 6 columns, and probably ran (Capps, l.c., p. 29)—

We next have fragments of Cols. III, IV, V (971 a, f).

The next fragment (971 b) belongs to the years B.C. 423-1, and to Col. VII.

We next come to Col. XIII (fr. 971 g), B.C. 348-6.

The position of fr. 971 d is uncertain; Capps places it B.C. 344-3, Wilhelm, 336-5 B.C. It belongs in any case to the latter half of the fourth century.

We next have two passages at the bottom of Cols. XIII, XIV (971 e), the years in the former being 343-1, and in the second 331-0.

Finally, from near the top of Cols. XIV, XV (971 h) we have fragments from 341-0 and 330-28 respectively. Col. XIV includes a fragment first printed by Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 27.

II. Record of Comic Contests at the Lenaea (C. I. A. ii. 972, Col. I).

The inscription of which this forms a part consists of two columns, the first containing records of comic contests, the second of tragic contests, at the Lenaea. The date of the contests recorded in the first column has been generally taken to be B.C. 354-2: but Capps (The Dating of some Didascalic Inscriptions, Amer. Journ. of Archaeology, 1900, pp. 74 ff.) has shown almost conclusively that the true date is B.C. 290-8 (it is possibly a year or two later, see Wilhelm, Urkunden dramatischer Aufführungen in Athen, p. 52, as the date of Diotimus’ archonship is not absolutely certain). This column must have contained the last records of comic contests at the Lenaea which came within the plan of this inscription, as the next column begins the records of tragic contests. It would appear, therefore, that the date of the transcribing of this series of didascaliae upon stone was in all probability circ. B.C. 287. Capps conjectures (with much reason) that C. I. A. ii. 972 formed part of one great didascalic inscription arranged in the order (1) Tragedy at the Dionysia, (2) Comedy at the Dionysia, (3) Comedy at the Lenaea, (4) Tragedy at the Lenaea. The extant fragments, therefore, mark the junction of parts (3) and (4). The original stone is now lost, and the record depends on the copies of Fourmont and Le Bas, the latter being apparently the more trustworthy.

III. Record of Tragic Contests at the Lenaea (C. I. A. ii. 972, Col. II).

The second column of the fragment to which the last quoted list belongs; Köhler has fixed the date beyond question.

IV. Record of Tragic Contests at the City Dionysia (C. I. A. ii. 973).

V. Record of Comic Contests (festival uncertain).

This inscription (which he numbers 974 c) was found in 1901, and is published (with restorations) by Wilhelm, op. cit., pp. 43 ff.; it is a record of the years B.C. 313-11. Col. I only is printed below; the second column being too fragmentary.

VI. Record of Comic Contests at the City Dionysia (C. I. A. ii. 975).

The inscription consists of a number of fragments. The date of those numbered a-e is tolerably certain; they range from about B.C. 190-160. The others, f-i, have been dated by Capps from about B.C. 308-260; but these dates and the restorations suggested by him are disputed by Wilhelm, who places the date of f, with a good deal of reason, only shortly before that of a, and also dates g-i (not included in the present selection) much later. The first part of fragment f is as follows:—

Fragments a-e are arranged as forming an inscription in five columns by Köhler (C. I. A.) as follows:—

Wilhelm arranges them as follows, op. cit., pp. 68 ff.:—

It is impossible at present to decide with certainty between the two arrangements. The former is here followed, but indications of Wilhelm’s arrangement are also given.

Col. I is too fragmentary to be intelligible. (It includes the 1st col. of a.)

Col. II (the 2nd col. of a).

Then after an interval the 1st col. of b (Wilhelm makes this a continuation of Col. I of a, and accordingly dates it before the portion just given).

Col. III (2nd col. of b; according to Wilhelm, a continuation of Col. II, i.e. of the 2nd col. of a).

Then an interval in which only a few letters are legible, the 1st col. of fragment e.

Col. IV (according to Wilhelm, Col. III), fragment c.

Then after an interval 2nd col. of e.

Col. V (according to Wilhelm, Col. IV), fragment d.

VII. Lists of tragic and comic poets and actors, and the number of their victories (C. I. A. ii. 977, iv. 977).

This inscription was no doubt based on the Νῖκαι τραγικαὶ καὶ κωμικαί of Aristotle, and afterwards carried on by additions into the second century B.C.; the order of the names is that of the first victory of each poet or actor at the contest in question, and each column of the inscription contained seventeen names. There are over thirty fragments, and it is not always possible to say whether the lists given in them refer to the Lenaea or the City Dionysia. The following selection of the fragments is based on Capps’s paper on this inscription in the Amer. Journal of Philology, xx. pp. 388 ff.: and on the fuller study by Wilhelm, op. cit., pp. 89 ff.

1. Tragic poets.

(a) At the City Dionysia.

Fragment a.

Fragment b.

(b) Festival uncertain.

Fragment c.

2. Comic poets.

(a) At the City Dionysia.

Fragments i and k, together with two fragments first published by Wilhelm, l.c., p. 106, and arranged by him in three columns as follows:—

The following new fragment is published by Wilhelm, p. 118.

(b) At the Lenaea.

This list at present consists of fragments d-h, which have been arranged in four columns; one column must have preceded them in the original, and over the head of the lost column and the present first column the title of the list ran, of which only one or two traces remain. It probably (according to Capps) read thus:—οἵδε ἐνίκων τὰ Λήναια ποητῶν κωμικῶν (or τῶν κωμικῶν). The extant portions run as follows (including conjectural restorations; cf. Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 123). See addendum to p. 27, n. 1. According to Wilhelm the heading was Ληναικαὶ ποητῶν κωμικῶν.

3. Tragic actors.

(a) At the City Dionysia.

Fragment e′.

(b) At the Lenaea.

Fragments o, z, x and b′, and two fragments published by Wilhelm, who puts all together as follows, op. cit., p. 144.

Fragment l (previously assigned to the list of poets; but see Wilhelm, op. cit., pp. 161, 253, who dates the fragment before B.C. 375).

4. Comic actors.

Fragments u, v (probably Lenaean, of the third century B.C.).

There are a good many other fragments, containing in some cases (fragments f′, w, p, and possibly d′, g′) the names of comic actors, while in other cases the nature of the list and its place in the inscription is uncertain: but the above will serve as specimens.

VIII. The following inscriptions are also of interest:—

1. C. I. A. ii. 1289. (Wilhelm, op. cit., p. 209; Capps, Am. Journ. Arch. iv. p. 76.)

2. Fragments (found in Rome) of a list of comic poets with their victories at each festival arranged according to the places they won (see Wilhelm, pp. 195 ff.).

(a) I. G. xiv. 1097.

(b) All but the last two lines probably refer to the comic poet Anaxandrides, as the plays named show. I. G. xiv. 1098.