33
Δακτύλιος (Daktylios)
(“The Ring”)
Discussion Bevilacqua 1939, 33; PCG VII (1989) 756.
Title Comedies with the same title were written by Alexis, Amphis, Philemo,
Menander and an unknown poet of the second century (JG II2 2323,133 =111 B3
col. 2b22 Mette= 2323.175 Millis-Olson 2012,96,103). Cf. also Pomponius’ Anulus
posterior and Plautus’ Condalium.
In Aristophanes there occurs a “signet-ring”, which authorizes its bearer to ar-
range business on behalf of the person whose seal is engraved on it (Eq. 947-59).47
They also were used as betrothal gifts (Ter. Ad. 347); cf. Arnott 1996, 154. For
rings having magic qualities cf. Eup. fr. 96 (from Baptai); Amips. fr. 26, where a
δακτύλιος φαρμακίτης, probably a ring with magic power, is mentioned; cf. Orth
2013, 317-20; Ar. Pl. 883-4 (a ring supposedly providing supernatural protection);
Ph. 424-33; Antiph. fr. 175 (probably Heracles is speaking) έάν δ’ άρα I στρέφη
με περί τήν γαστέρ’ ή τον όμφαλόν, / παρά Φερτάτου δακτύλιος έστι μοι δραχμής
“But if I feel a twisting in my stomach or my gut, I have got a ring from Phertatus
that cost a drachma”. But, above all, rings were typical recognition tokens in late
comedy (see below, under “Content”), being used by their bearers for identification
(e. g. in Plautus’ Bacchis'), and sometimes their fraudulent use was an essential part
of the plot (e. g. in Plautus’ Curculio, Miles Gloriosus and Pseudolus).
Content The surviving fragment is not helpful for the reconstruction of the
plot. It is possible that a ring was at the center of the play, perhaps as a token in a
recognition scene. In Menander’s Epitrepontes (w. 358-79), the exposed baby is
found to bear Charisius’ ring, and is eventually identified as the child of Charisius
and Pamphile. Sometimes rings are used to forge letters, contributing to the com-
plexity of the plot, before a final anagnorisis·, for a play combining epistles and ring,
cf. Plautus’ Curculio, where the slave Planesium is recognized by means of a ring
as a freeborn woman (cf. below on Timocles’ Δρακόντιον and’EnioTokai, under
“Content”). For rings in recognition comedies cf. Arnott 1996,153-4; Boardman
2001, 189-302; Papachrysostomou 2016, 82-3.
Date Unknown.
fr. 3 K.-A. (3 K.)
γαλεούς και βατίδας όσα τε των γενών
έν όξυλιπάρω τρίμματι σκευάζεται
1 τε των γενών codd.: τ’ αυτών γένη Kock

47 For their use in sealing private documents in forensic practice cf. D. 37.42.