133
Λυκούργος (Lykourgos)
(‘Lycurgus’)
Discussion Meineke 18391.371; 1840. III.172; 1847. 579; Bothe 1855. 422; Kock
1884 11.144; Edmonds 1959 11.56—7; Kassel-Austin 1991 11.250; Sanchis Llopis
et al. 2007. 251
Title There are no other comedies of this name, but Aeschylus wrote a sa-
tyr play Lycurgus (cf. Ar. Th. 134-5 with Austin-Olson 2004 ad loc.\ as did
Timocles (exhibited at the Dionysia in 341/0 BC [IG II2 2320.16-17 (= 19-20
M-O)]). Polyphrasmon wrote a Lycurgan tetralogy, and Naevius a tragedy
Lycurgus.
The story of Lycurgus, Thracian king of the Edonians, is recounted already
in Homer (I/. 6.130-40), where he drives Dionysus into the sea at Nysa and is
blinded by the gods as punishment. This basic outline was embellished and
eventually included other punishments as well: e. g. S. Ant. 955-65; D.S. 3.65.4-
7; Apollod. 3.5.1; Hyg. Fab. 132. See in general Farnoux in LIMC V. 1.309-19;
Gantz 1993.113-14; Nilsson 11967-19741.580-1; Rapp in ALGRM 2.2191-2204;
see on Διονύσου γοναί for other plays involving Dionysus.
Kock stated the obvious in noting that the play concerned ‘Thraciae regem,
non Lacedaemonium neque Atheniensem’; cf. Breitenbach 1908. 97-8, who
added that Lycurgus the orator seems not to have been mocked in comedy
(although his homonymous grandfather, a hellenotamias, had been; cf. Ar. Av.
1296 with Dunbar 1995 ad loc.\ Edmonds’ assertion that the play conflated the
orator with the Thracian king necessitates a date of 338-326 BC, well beyond
Anaxandrides’ attested career; the idea can thus be safely rejected.
Content of the comedy The sole fragment apparently refers to Dionysus
after he has been driven into the sea by Lycurgus; since this and the subse-
quent punishment are the central elements in Lycurgus’ story, the play as a
whole might have closely followed the myth, presumably as travesty. The
plot need not, however, have followed the myth literally; e. g. fr. 28 could
describe a fishmarket as easily as the sea. Dionysus might have been presented
as an underling, perhaps a slave, and may have suffered a series of abuses,
as in Aristophanes’ Frogs·, perhaps the play concluded with a recognition of
Dionysus’ divinity and him not being driven into the sea but feted at a feast
of seafood. Alternatively, Lycurgus’ treatment of Dionysus might have served
as the pretext for a play revolving around the former’s various punishments.

Date Unknown.