Hermippus ( grc-gre, Ἕρμιππος; fl. 5th century BC) was the one-eyed

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

writer 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 ...

, who flourished during the

Peloponnesian War The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Greek world. The war remained undecided for a long time until the decisive intervention of th ...

Life

He was the son of Lysis, and the brother of the comic poet Myrtilus. He was younger than

Telecleides Telecleides ( grc, Τηλεκλείδης) was an Athenian Old Comic poet. A contemporary of Cratinus, he was active , and is known to have won at the Dionysia three times and the Lenaia five times. Only eight titles and a few fragments of his pl ...

and older than Eupolis and

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 ...

. According to the

Suda The ''Suda'' or ''Souda'' (; grc-x-medieval, Σοῦδα, Soûda; la, Suidae Lexicon) is a large 10th-century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Soudas (Σούδας) or Souidas ...

, he wrote forty plays, and his chief actor was Simeron, according to the

scholia Scholia (singular scholium or scholion, from grc, σχόλιον, "comment, interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of th ...

st of Aristophanes. The titles and fragments of nine of his plays are preserved. He was a bitter opponent of Pericles, whom he accused (probably in the ''Moirai'') of being a bully and a coward, and of carousing with his boon companions while the Lacedaemonians were invading

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

. He also accused

Aspasia Aspasia (; grc-gre, Ἀσπασία ; after 428 BC) was a ''metic'' woman in Classical Athens. Born in Miletus, she moved to Athens and began a relationship with the statesman Pericles, with whom she had a son, Pericles the Younger. Accordin ...

of impiety and offences against morality, and her acquittal was only secured by the tears of Pericles (

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, ''Pericles'', 32). In the "Female Bread-Sellers", he attacked the

demagogue A demagogue (from Greek , a popular leader, a leader of a mob, from , people, populace, the commons + leading, leader) or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, e ...

Hyperbolus. The "Mat-Carriers" contains many parodies of

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

Surviving titles and fragments

Ninety-four fragments of Hermippus' work survives, along with the following nine titles: *''Athenas Gonai'' ("Birth of Athena") *''Artopolides'' ("Female Bread-Sellers") *''Demotai'' ("Citizens") *''Europa'' ("

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

") *''Theoi'' ("Gods") *''Kerkopes'' ("

Cercopes In Greek mythology, the Cercopes ( el, Κέρκωπες, plural of Κέρκωψ, from κέρκος (''n''.) ''kerkos'' "tail") were mischievous forest creatures who lived in Thermopylae or on Euboea but roamed the world and might turn up anywhe ...

") *''Moirai'' ("Fates") *''Stratiotai'' ("Soldiers") *''Phormophoroi'' ("Mat-Carriers") Hermippus also appears to have written scurrilous iambic poems after the manner of

Archilochus Archilochus (; grc-gre, Ἀρχίλοχος ''Arkhilokhos''; c. 680 – c. 645 BC) was a Greek lyric poet of the Archaic period from the island of Paros. He is celebrated for his versatile and innovative use of poetic meters, and is the ea ...

.Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), page 9 Other types of works written by Hermippus cited by ancient writers include

trimeter In poetry, a trimeter (Greek for "three measure") is a metre of three metrical feet per line. Examples: : When here // the spring // we see, : Fresh green // upon // the tree. See also * Anapaest * Dactyl * Tristich * Triadic-line poetry Triad ...

s and

tetrameter In poetry, a tetrameter is a line of four metrical feet. The particular foot can vary, as follows: * ''Anapestic tetrameter:'' ** "And the ''sheen'' of their ''spears'' was like ''stars'' on the ''sea''" (Lord Byron, "The Destruction of Sennacher ...

Fragments

*Theodor Kock. ''Comicorum Atticorum fragmenta'', i. (1880). * Augustus Meineke. ''Poetarum Graecorum comicorum fragmenta'', (1855). *C. Austin and Rudolf Kassel. '' Poetae Comici Graeci''.

References

Sources

* 5th-century BC Athenians Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Ancient Greek poets Old Comic poets Iambic poets 5th-century BC writers 5th-century BC poets Athenians of the Peloponnesian War Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Culture in Classical Athens {{AncientGreece-writer-stub