Dyskolos

Dyskolos
Written byMenander
ChorusWorshippers of Pan
Characters
  • Pan, a god
  • Sostratos, a young man
  • Kallippides, his father
  • Sostratos' mother
  • Chaireas, his companion
  • Pyrrhias, his slave
  • Getas, another slave
  • Knemon, an old villager
  • Knemon's daughter
  • Simiche, an old servant
  • Gorgias, his stepson
  • Daos, a slave
  • Sikon, a cook
Mute
  • Gorgias' mother
  • Donax, a slave
  • Other slaves, female relatives, friends of Sostratos' mother
Date premiered316 BCE
Place premieredLenaia Festival, Athens
Original languageAncient Greek
GenreNew Comedy
SettingA country road in Phyle outside Athens in front of a temple of Pan.

Dyskolos (Greek: Δύσκολος, pronounced [dýskolos], translated as The Grouch, The Misanthrope, The Curmudgeon, The Bad-tempered Man or Old Cantankerous) is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, the only one of his plays, and of the whole New Comedy, that has survived in nearly complete form.[1] It was first presented at the Lenaian festival in Athens in 316 BC, where it won Menander the first prize.

It was long known only through fragmentary quotations; but a papyrus manuscript of the nearly complete Dyskolos, dating to the 3rd century, was recovered in Egypt in 1952 and forms part of the Bodmer Papyri and Oxyrhynchus Papyri. The play was published in 1958 by Victor Martin.[2]

The story of the play concerns a rich young nobleman, Sostratos, who falls in love at first sight with a village peasant girl and decides to marry her. Unfortunately, her father, Knemon, is reclusive, notoriously bad-tempered, and next to impossible to approach. Eventually, after winning over Knemon's stepson Gorgias, showing his own work ethic, and helping to rescue Knemon from the well he has absurdly fallen into, Sostratos wins Knemon over and receives his blessing to marry his daughter. Sostratos also persuades his own father, Kallippides, to bless the betrothal of his own daughter to Gorgias. At the end of the play, Knemon is dragged kicking and screaming by the other characters to join the party for his daughter's wedding. As explained in the prologue, the events of the play are secretly orchestrated by the god Pan who wishes to reward the religious piety of Knemon's daughter and force Knemon, against his will, to experience a redemption arc.

The Dyskolos inspired Molière, who knew only the theme of the play, as it had not yet been found, in his writing of The Misanthrope (1666).[not verified in body]

  1. ^ Photiades, Penelope J. (1 October 1958). "Pan's prologue to the Dyskolos of Menander". Greece & Rome. Second Series. Vol. 5. pp. 108–122. out of a total of about 969 verses there are only about 9 verses missing — in two places in the fourth act; but about 30 verses in the first and second acts are incomplete; and approximately 200 require some emendation (p. 108)
  2. ^ Fontaine, Michael; Scafuro, Adele C., eds. (201). The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199743544 – via Google Books.