Aristophanes of Byzantium, c.257–180 B.C., Greek scholar. He was librarian at Alexandria, edited various texts, and reputedly invented the Greek diacritical marks. Aristarchus of Samothrace wa...

Cratinus, d. c.419 B.C., Athenian comic dramatist. He won the prize at the Athenian drama contest when Aristophanes competed with The Clouds and was regarded with Aristophanes and Eupolis as o...

Aristarchus of Samothrace, c.217–c.145 B.C., Greek scholar, successor to his teacher, Aristophanes of Byzantium, as librarian at Alexandria. He was an innovator of scientific scholarship, and ...

Farce, light, comic theatrical piece in which the characters and events are greatly exaggerated to produce broad, absurd humor. Early examples of farce can be found in the comedies of Aristoph...

Eupolis, fl. 430–411 B.C., Athenian comic poet. He seems to have collaborated with Aristophanes, whom he also attacked; another of his victims was Alcibiades. His plays, satirical and maliciou...

Cary, Henry Francis, 1772–1844, English translator. A graduate of Christ Church College, Oxford, he was assistant librarian in the British Museum from 1826 to 1837. He translated several class...

Deschanel, Émile, 1819–1904, French author and politician. Of his numerous works the best known are such critical studies as Études sur Aristophane (1867) and Le Romantisme des classiques (188...

Kupka, Frank or František, 1871–1957, Czech painter, etcher, and illustrator. Kupka illustrated works by Reclus and Leconte de Lisle and an edition of Aristophanes' Lysistrata. In 1911 he join...

Callias, d. c.370 B.C., Athenian leader, one of the generals of the Peloponnesian War. In his old age Callias was one of the ambassadors sent to Sparta with Callistratus to negotiate a peace t...

Frischlin, Nikodemus, 1547–90, German satirist and philologist. His dramas, written in Latin and seemingly dealing with antique or biblical subjects, were in fact merciless anti-Catholic and p...