Introduction

21

add little.24 Since these plays form only a small part of Anaxandrides’ output
(12 % of the known titles; 8 % of the total 65) and such plots seem to have been
among the most memorable or at least most influential features of his plays,
it seems likely that this sort of plot or other plots viewed as stereotypical of
later comedy were more prevalent than the extant titles suggest.
Fifteen of the titles (37 % of the known titles; 23 % of the total 65 plays), the
largest group of plays with apparently similar subject matter, suggest a mytho-
logical topic as the basis of the plot.25 The majority of these (thirteen of fifteen)
revolve around a central hero, usually male but occasionally female (Helene·,
Id), and normally mortal but once a minor divinity (Nereus). In the majority of
these cases, little of substance can be said about the plot.26 Of the two remain-
ing plays with mythological titles, one (Dionysou gonai) is perhaps some sort
of mythological travesty (but see Winkler 1982 for a different interpretation of
all such plays), while the plot of the other (Nereides) is uncertain and may have
little mythological content (cf. ad loc.). Scholars generally assume on the basis
of the titles that most if not all of these plays are mythological travesties (what-
ever that might mean, and the point has not often been addressed in detail),
but there is no reason why this should be true. The fragments of Helene, for
example, suggest that much of the plot may have been a parody of Euripides’
homonymous play.27 Finally, although passing reference to a contemporary
figure is possible in an apparently mythological play (e. g. Plato in fr. 20 [from
Theseus]·, Polyeuktos in fr. 46.3 [from Tereus]), at least two plays seem to have
a greater than usual involvement with contemporary Athens. Fr. 35 (from
Odysseus) may be addressed to a group of Athenians or the Athenians at large,
while frr. 41 and 42 (from Prdtesilaos) suggest a concern with contemporary
politics and political maneuvering. Since the fragments of most of the plays
with mythological titles are too scanty to allow even tentative reconstruction
of the subject matter, and some of those plays seem to have a considerable

24 Fr. 22 (from Kanephoros) suggests confusion about someone’s identity, which may
indicate a plot that hinges on mistaken social status (cf. ad loc.)·, perhaps similar is
Melilotos, in which the title possibly refers to a token of recognition (cf. ad loc.).
25 Some of the plays with a mythological plot were probably based on an earlier tragic
treatment of the same story, but this need not always have been the case. Similarly,
parody of an earlier tragedy necessarily revolved around a mythological plot, but
the primary focus must have been parody of the tragedian’s handling of the myth,
not the myth itself.
26 Almost certainly the plot of Herakles is set prior to the hero’s apotheosis.
27 Erechtheus, Herakles, Theseus, and Prdtesilaos are also titles shared with Euripides;
fr. 66 is a parody of a Euripidean line, but is perhaps more likely to have come from
Poleis than from a mythological play (cf. ad loc.).