Xenocles ( grc-gre, Ξενοκλῆς) is the name of two

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ...

s. There were two Athenian tragic poets of this name, one the grandfather of the other. No fragments of either are currently known, except for a few words of the elder apparently parodied in

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 ...

' ''

The Clouds ''The Clouds'' ( grc, Νεφέλαι ''Nephelai'') is a Greek comedy play written by the playwright Aristophanes. A lampooning of intellectual fashions in classical Athens, it was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423BC and was not ...

''. The elder Xenocles wrote a play about

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...

called the elder Xenocles an execrable poet and was never tired of ridiculing him; describing, along with his father, Carcinus the Elder, three brothers and a member of the third generation (also called

Carcinus ''Carcinus'' ( '' Karkinos'') is a genus of crabs, which includes ''Carcinus maenas'', an important invasive species, and '' C. aestuarii'', a species endemic to the Mediterranean Sea. ''Carcinus maenas'' ''C. maenas'' is among the 100 "worl ...

), "a whole potful of tragic crabs". He also wrote that "Xenocles, who is ugly, makes ugly poetry". In his play '' Thesmophoriazusae'' the chorus claims "Even this audience, I'm sure/Would find the man a crashing bore" which highlights his doubtful views on Xenocles as a writer. However, in 415 BC Xenocles gained the first prize with one of his trilogies when in competition with

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful e ...

. But Aelian accounts for this by saying that "the jury were either intellectually incapable of a proper decision or else they were bribed."

Notes

References

* William Smith, ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', v. 3, pp. 1289–90, 1870. * Aristophanes, ''The Frogs and Other Plays'', Penguin Classics, translated by David Barrett. 5th-century BC Greek people 5th-century BC writers Ancient Greek poets Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights Tragic poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{AncientGreece-poet-stub