16

Introduction

or Anaxandrides, since Aristotle finds the occasions memorable primarily for
their virtuoso delivery; they are thus more important for the history of acting
and performance than for the plays of Anaxandrides in particular. Second,
test. 5.9, as restored, suggests that Anaxandrides used someone else to pro-
duce his plays on at least one occasion. The phenomenon is well-attested (cf.
Pickard-Cambridge 1968. 84-6) and now seems less noteworthy than it once
did, although this is the only known instance involving Anaxandrides. Since
this occasion dates to sometime after 349 BC and thus late in his career, this
might have been a posthumous production produced by a son or other close
relation. In any case, both Bergk’s [Ανα]ξίππουη and Wilhelm’s [Διω]ξίππου
(tentatively but implausibly identified by Wilhelm as the homonymous comic
poet) are mere speculation; a number of other names are equally possible, al-
though names in [-]ξιππος are relatively uncommon in Athens (Dexippos,
with 10 examples, is the most common). Alternatively, [-]ξίππου might be
the end of a title, although this seems unlikely.11 12
Test. 2a, much of which is patently false, may contain a grain of truth
regarding the play Poleis (cf. on fr. 66). Similarly, its assertion that Anaxandrides’
plays were publicly burnt may represent an independent but distorted version
of the equally implausible claim in test. 2 that the poet himself gave his plays
to the frankincense market to be destroyed.13 The details of this story (e. g. the
frankincense market, the refusal to revise plays) may suggest a deduction from
one of Anaxandrides’ own comedies (e. g. he threatens to destroy his work if it
is not well received, or claims that he always presents something completely
new [cf. Ar. Nu. 545-7]) or one by a rival (e. g. claiming that Anaxandrides’
plays are so bad that they deserve to be destroyed).
The text of at least one play (Thesauros·, cf. test. 7) survived, presumably
in the state archives, until 311 BC, which was probably after the poet’s death.
Beyond this isolated incident, there is little or no evidence that the comedies
were known much after the early Hellenistic period, and probably only a few

11 Bergk does not defend or explain [Άνα]ξίππου; presumably, he meant the first
element of the name to suggest a son of Anaxandrides, unless he was thinking of
the late fourth century comic poet of that name.
12 The suggestion was first raised and then discarded as unlikely by Dittmer 1923. 52.
Even more unlikely is an error by the stone-cutter (e. g. the sequence of archon date
followed by title was reversed or the name of the play was mistakenly omitted).
13 Presumably the papyrus would be used for packets in which the frankincense was
sold, but it is not entirely clear why the frankincense market (otherwise unknown)
is specified in particular; cf. Hor. Epist. 2.1.269-70; Pers. 1.43.