Nicochares ( el, Νικοχάρης, died ca. 345 BC) was an

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 ...

poet 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 the ...

, son of the comic playwright Philonides and contemporary with

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...

.Suda ν 407 The titles of Nicochares' plays, as enumerated by

Suidas 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 ...

, are, ''Αμυμώνη'' (

Amymone In Greek mythology, Amymone (;Ancient Greek: Αμυμωνη means the "blameless" one) was a daughter of Danaus, king of Libya and Europe, a queen. As the "blameless" Danaid, her name identifies her as, perhaps, identical to Hypermnestra ("grea ...

), ''Πέλοψ'' (

Pelops In Greek mythology, Pelops (; ) was king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus region (, lit. "Pelops' Island"). He was the son of Tantalus and the father of Atreus. He was venerated at Olympia, where his cult developed into the founding myth of the O ...

), ''Γαλάτεια'' (

Galatea Galatea is an ancient Greek name meaning "she who is milk-white". Galatea, Galathea or Gallathea may refer to: In mythology * Galatea (Greek myth), three different mythological figures In the arts * ''Aci, Galatea e Polifemo'', cantata by H ...

), ''Ηρακλής Γάμων'' (Hercules Getting Married), ''Ηρακλής Χορηγός'' (Hercules the Play-Producer), ''Κρήτες'' (

Cretans Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

), ''Λάκωνες'' ( The Laconians), ''Λημνίαι'' ( Lemnian Women), ''Κένταυροι'' ( Centaurs), and ''Χειρογάστορες'' (Those Living Hand-to-Mouth).

Augustus Meineke Johann Albrecht Friedrich August Meineke (also ''Augustus Meineke''; ; 8 December 179012 December 1870), German classical scholar, was born at Soest in the Duchy of Westphalia. He was father-in-law to philologist Theodor Bergk.

suggested that the ''Amymone'' and ''Pelops'' may have been alternative names for the same work, as the Suda lists the two works together when all of the others are in alphabetical order, and a fragment of ''Amymone'' quoted by Athenaeus mentions Oenomaus, the father-in-law of Pelops. From the extant fragments of Nicochares' work, one can only infer that he treated in the style of the Old Comedy—occasionally rising into

tragic 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 ...

dignity. It is also evident that his comedies were influenced by the

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

s and local

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

s of his country, and, undoubtedly, served to ridicule the peculiarities of the neighboring states.

References

Ancient Greek dramatists and playwrights 4th-century BC Athenians 4th-century BC writers Old Comic poets Year of birth unknown 340s BC deaths {{AncientGreece-poet-stub