Carcinus (writer)

{{Short description|4th-century BC Greek tragedian}} {{about|the Greek tragedian|the crab genus of the same name|Carcinus}} '''Carcinus''' ({{langx|el|Καρκίνος}}; {{floruit|370s BC}}) was an Ancient Greek tragedian from Thoricus in southern Attica. He was the son of the playwright Xenocles and grandson of Carcinus.<ref name=BNP>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Zimmerman|first=Bernhard|entry=Carcinus [4]|title=Brill's New Pauly|year=2006|doi=10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e609190}}</ref> Another Xenocles, mentioned by a scholiast on Aristophanes' ''Frogs'', may have been Carcinus' son.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Theatrical Families of Athens|last=Sutton|first=Dana Ferrin|journal=The American Journal of Philology|year=1987|volume=108|page=18|doi=10.2307/294911 |jstor=294911 }}</ref>

The ''Suda'' records that he wrote one hundred and sixty plays. He won eleven victories at the ''Dionysia''.<ref name=OCD>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Carcinus (2)|encyclopedia=Oxford Classical Dictionary|last=Brown|first=Andrew|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.013.1365}}</ref> His exact dates are uncertain, though he was certainly active in the 370s BC. According to the ''Suda'', his floruit was in the 100th Olympiad (380–377 BC);<ref>{{cite journal|last=Green|first=J. R.|title=Carcinus and the Temple: a Lesson in the Staging of Tragedy|journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies|volume=31|issue=3|year=1990|page=281}}</ref> and his first victory at the Dionysia can be dated to before 372.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Webster|first=T. L.|title=Fourth Century Tragedy and the Poetics|journal=Hermes|year=1954|volume=82|issue=3|page=300}}</ref> Dionysius II of Syracuse was a patron of Carcinus.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Stewart|first=Edmund|title=An Ancient Theatre Dynasty: The Elder Carcinus, the Young Xenocles and the Sons of Carcinus in Aristophanes|journal=Philologus|volume=160|issue=1|year=2016|page=2|doi=10.1515/phil-2016-0001 |s2cid=164756784 |url=http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/49096/ }}</ref> Nine or ten titles of his plays are known: ''Aerope'', ''Ajax'', ''Alope'', ''Amphiaraus'', ''Medea'', ''Oedipus'', ''Orestes'', ''Semele'', ''Thyestes'', and possibly ''Tyro''.<ref name=OCD/> His work survives only in fragments.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rothwell|first=Kenneth|title=Was Carcinus I a Tragic Playwright?|journal=Classical Philology|year=1994|volume=89|issue=3|page=244|doi=10.1086/367418 |s2cid=53575987 }}</ref>

Carcinus is mentioned briefly by Aristotle. In the ''Poetics'', Chapter 17 (1455a lines 22 to 29), Aristotle discusses the necessity for a playwright to see the composition on the stage, rather than just in print, in order to weed out any inconsistencies. Aristotle points to an unnamed play of Carcinus which had a character, Amphiaraus, exit a temple. For some reason this seemed outrageously inconsistent when viewed on the stage, and the audience "hissed" the actors right off the stage.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Green|first=J. R.|title=Carcinus and the Temple: a Lesson in the Staging of Tragedy|journal=Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies|volume=31|issue=3|year=1990}}</ref>

In 2004, Annie Bélis published a fragment of a musical papyrus written by Carcinus that contains parts of his ''Medea'' (Louvre E 10534). It was identified thanks to a quote by Aristotle. It contains two arias, one by Medea and one by Jason. In this version, Medea did not kill her children, but is unable to prove it.<ref>{{cite journal | language = fr | first = Annie | last = Bélis | title = Un papyrus musical inédit au Louvre | journal = Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres | volume = 148 | year = 2004 | pages = 1305–1329 | url = http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/crai_0065-0536_2004_num_148_3_22786 }}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carcinus}} Category:Ancient Acragantines Category:Ancient Greek tragic poets Category:Poets of Magna Graecia Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown Category:4th-century BC Greek poets