Eupolis

Eupolis (Greek: Εὔπολις; c. 446 – 411 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, who flourished during the time of the Peloponnesian War.

Biography

Nothing whatsoever is known of his personal history. There are few sources on when he first appeared on the stage. A short history of Greek Comedy, written by an anonymous writer of antiquity, reports that Eupolis first produced in the year where Apollodorus was the Eponymous archon, which would be 430/429 BC. The same source claims Phrynichus also debuted that year. The Chronicon of Eusebius of Caesarea instead places his debut in 428/427 BC and adds that Aristophanes also started producing that year. This is the version preserved in the Latin translation by Jerome. But the Armenian translation places the event in 427/426 BC.

Cyril of Alexandria placed the debut of Eupolis at some point between 428 and 424 BC. Placing the debuts of Aristophanes and Plato the comic poet within the same period. George Syncellus gives the same dates, but merely states that Eupolis and Aristophanes were becoming prominent, not when they debuted. Syncellus extends the phrase to include Sophocles. Sophocles had actually become the pre-eminent playwright in Athens c. 456 BC, when Aeschylus died.