Όρεσταυτοκλείδης (fr. 27)

205

Date The date of the play is uncertain. Breitenbach 1908, 33-6 proposes 340
BC, Schiassi 1951, 230-45 prefers 345/4 BC, whereas Webster 1970, 63 dates it
in the early twenties, on the grounds that the eleven courtesans are presented in
old age. However, all these elaborate attempts to estimate the date of the play on
this basis are not convincing. The description of the courtesans as bld women
cannot support any argument for the dating of the play; the term ‘γραες’ might
not be completely accurate, since both the ages and the careers of these hetaerae
probably varied significantly. Besides, Fisher 2001, 184 rightly observes that it is
the transformation of the courtesans into Furies which accounts for their aged
appearance. On the other hand, the staging of the play has been associated with the
time of the delivery of Aeschines’ Against Timarchus (e. g. Koerte, BPhW 26,1906,
900-3), i. e. around 346/5 BC (for the date of the speech cf. Carey 2000,19), on the
grounds that Autocleides is mentioned in that speech. But, as Hunter 1979, 34, n.
59 notes, Autocleides is mentioned in 1.52 in passing, and his period of notoriety
is uncertain, so any attempt to date Timocles’ play on such a basis is doubtful.215


£ £