Diphilus biography

Diphilus (Greek: Δίφιλος), of Sinope, was a poet of the new Attic comedy and a contemporary of Menander (– BC). He is frequently listed together with Menander and Philemon, considered the three greatest poets of New Comedy.

He was victorious at least three times at the Lenaia, placing him third before Philemon and Menander.^[1] Although most of his plays were written and acted at Athens he died at Smyrna. His body was returned and buried in Athens.^[2]

According to Athenaeus, he was on intimate terms with the famous courtesan Gnathaena.^[3] Athenaeus quotes the comic poet Machon in support of this claim.

Diphilus biography wikipedia

Machon is also the source for the claim that Diphilus acted in his own plays.^[4]

An anonymous essay on comedy from antiquity reports that Diphilus wrote plays. Of these plays, 59 titles, and fragments (or quotations) survive.

From the extant fragments, Diphilus' plays seem to have featured many of the stock characters now primar