Ameipsias ( grc, ,

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

late 5th century BC) of Athens was an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

comic poet, a contemporary of

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme In Ancient Greece, a deme or ( grc, δῆμος, plural: demoi, δημοι) was a suburb or a subdivision of Athens and other city-states ...

, whom he twice bested in the dramatic contests. His ''Konnos'' () gained a second prize at the City Dionysia in 423, when Aristophanes won the third prize with '' The Clouds''. ''Konnos'' appears to have had the same subject and aim as ''Clouds''. It is at least certain that Socrates appeared in the play, and that the Chorus consisted of . Aristophanes alludes to Ameipsias in ''

The Frogs ''The Frogs'' ( grc-gre, Βάτραχοι, Bátrakhoi, Frogs; la, Ranae, often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in ...

'', and we are told in the anonymous life of Aristophanes, that when Aristophanes first exhibited his plays under the names of other poets, Ameipsias applied to him the Greek proverb , which means "a person who labours for others," an allusion to

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...

, who was born on the fourth of the month.

Works

Ameipsias wrote many comedies, out of which there remain only a few fragments of the following six plays: * (''Men Playing

Kottabos Kottabos ( grc, κότταβος) was a game of skill played at Ancient Greek and Etruscan symposia (drinking parties), especially in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. It involved flinging wine-lees (sediment) at a target in the middle of the roo ...

'') * (although this attribution is considered doubtful by many scholars) * (423 BC) * (''Adulterers'') * (''Sappho'') * (''The Sling'') We also know he wrote other plays, although their names are now lost. Most of his plays were of the

Old Comedy Old Comedy (''archaia'') is the first period of the ancient Greek comedy, according to the canonical division by the Alexandrian grammarians.Mastromarco (1994) p.12 The most important Old Comic playwright is Aristophanes – whose works, with thei ...

, but some, in all probability, were of the Middle Comedy.Meineke, ''Frag. Com.'' i. p. 199, ii. p. 701

References

{{Authority control 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Ancient Greek satirists Old Comic poets