Once again, Balladeer’s Blog looks at the fragmentary remains of one of the lesser-known ancient Greek comedy playwrights, in this case Philyllius. This comic poet’s career seems to have spanned approximately from the 410s BC to 390 BC. One of his comedies won 1st prize at a Lenaea festival in the 390s and he won 1st prize at an unknown Dionysia. His fellow comedian Strattis credited him with being the first Attic Old Comic to use real torches on stage.
My favorite random line from his fragments: “The most important element of health is to breathe clean and unsullied air.”
I. HERAKLES – This comedy by Philyllius combined mythological burlesque with a comical look at the institution of phratries in ancient Greece. Phratries were the forerunner of and partial inspiration for college fraternities and sororities as well as some lodges. That’s one of the reasons why fraternities and sororities are known by Greek letters. Continue reading
BAPTAE – Written by Eupolis, one of the Big Three of ancient Greek comedians. Aristophanes and Cratinus were the other two. This comedy satirized the latest “hot new cult” to hit Athens – worship of the Dorian and Thracian goddess Cotyto. 
Anteia was written by the comic poet Philyllius. This comic poet’s career seems to have spanned approximately from the 410s BCE to 390 BCE. One of his comedies won 1st prize at a Lenaea festival in the 390s and he won 1st prize at an unknown Dionysia. His fellow comedian Strattis credited him with being the first Attic Old Comic to use real torches on stage.
A hetaera could move from man to man or keep one man for extended periods. What they were was openly known but the hetaerae occupied the top rung in the open “sex for pay” business in ancient Greece. Political figures could be publicly known as a hetaera’s steady man and it was not a career ender, but the man would be in for a lot of ribbing in the comedies of the time, usually as the butt of jokes pointing out how such an “ugly” man could ONLY get such a beautiful sex partner by paying her. 
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