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The Alexandrine grammarians, and most likely Aristophanes of Byzantium in particular, seem to have been the first to divide Greek comedy into what became the canonical three periods: [3] Old Comedy (ἀρχαία archaía), Middle Comedy (μέση mésē) and New Comedy (νέα néa). These divisions appear to be largely arbitrary, and ancient ...
Old Comedy is the first period of the ancient Greek comedy, according to the canonical division by the Alexandrian grammarians. [1] The most important Old Comic playwright is Aristophanes – whose works, with their daring political commentary and abundance of sexual innuendo, de facto define the genre.
'Irony' comes from the Greek eironeia (εἰρωνεία) and dates back to the 5th century BCE.This term itself was coined in reference to a stock-character from Old Comedy (such as that of Aristophanes) known as the eiron, who dissimulates and affects less intelligence than he has—and so ultimately triumphs over his opposite, the alazon, a vain-glorious braggart.
In the theatre of ancient Greece, the eirōn (Ancient Greek: εἴρων) "dissembler" was one of various stock characters in comedy. [1] The eirōn usually succeeded by bringing down his braggart opponent (the alazṓn "boaster") by understating his own abilities. [2] The eiron lends his name to the related concept of irony.
While sarcasm (harsh ridicule or mockery) is often directly associated with verbal irony (meaning the opposite of what is said) and the two are frequently used together; sarcasm is not necessarily ironic by definition, and either element can be used without the other. [33] Examples of sarcasm and irony used together: "My you're early!"
There is no concise formal definition of tragicomedy from the classical age. It appears that the Greek philosopher Aristotle had something like the Renaissance meaning of the term (that is, a serious action with a happy ending) in mind when, in Poetics , he discusses tragedy with a dual ending. [ 2 ]
Comedy is the third form of literature, being the most divorced from a true mimesis. Tragedy is the truest mimesis, followed by epic poetry, comedy, and lyric poetry. The genre of comedy is defined by a certain pattern according to Aristotle's definition.
The word humor is a translation of Greek χυμός, [3] chymos (literally 'juice' or 'sap', metaphorically 'flavor'). Early texts on Indian Ayurveda medicine presented a theory of three or four humors (doṣas), [ 4 ] [ 5 ] which they sometimes linked with the five elements ( pañca-bhūta ): earth, water, fire, air, and space.