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Morsimus

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Morsimus or Morsimos (Ancient Greek: Μόρσιμος) was a tragic poet of the 5th century BCE, around 450 to 400 BCE, and the member of a large dynasty of tragic poets.[1] None of his plays survive.[2]

He was the son of Philocles, brother of Melanthius, grandnephew of Aeschylus, the father of Astydamas the Elder, grandfather of both Astydamas the Younger and Philocles the Younger. All of these were tragic poets of some renown.[3]

Theatre dynasty of Aeschylus
AeschylusPhilopatho (not a poet)
EuaeonEuphorionPhilocles
MorsimusMelanthius
Astydamas the Elder
Astydamas the YoungerPhilocles the Younger
Astydamas?

Unlike most of his tragic poet family, Morsimus does not appear to have been very successful as a playwright. His plays are described in some sources as "wretched".[4] He is attacked and ridiculed several times by the comic playwright Aristophanes, whose cutting criticisms are probably in large part responsible for Morsimus's negative reputation. Aristophanes wrote a character who describes the experience of performing in one of Morsimus's plays as being comparable to being "drenched in urine", and describes anyone who ever helped distribute the texts of Morsimus as a villain deserving the worst punishments in Hades, the same as the ones visited on parricides.[5][6] Though it's also true that we have fragments of the comic poet Plato's that suggest at least some of Morsimus's contemporaries thought warmly of his work. Other scholars observe that the fact we have jokes at Morsimus's expense spanning several decades might indicate a certain staying power of his work.[4]

Besides his profession as a poet, he seems to have practiced as a physician and oculist, though biographical sources describe him as equally talentless in drama and medicine.[4][7][8][9]

Frigidity seems to have been the predominant characteristic of his poetry.[10][11][12]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Sommerstein, Alan H. (2013). Aeschylean Tragedy. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 14. ISBN 9781849667951. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  2. ^ Spickermann, Wolfgang (2019). "Lucan of Samosata on Magic and Superstition". In Ben-Tov, Asaph; Mulsow, Martin (eds.). Knowledge and Profanation: Transgressing the Boundaries of Religion in Premodern Scholarship. Brill Publishers. p. 25. ISBN 9789004398931. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  3. ^ Cropp, Martin, ed. (2019). Minor Greek Tragedians: Fragments from the Tragedies with Selected Testimonia. Liverpool University Press. p. 132. ISBN 9781786942029. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  4. ^ a b c Wright, Matthew (2016). The Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy: Neglected Authors. Vol. 1. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 100–101. ISBN 9781472567772. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  5. ^ Aristophanes, The Frogs 151
  6. ^ Haigh, Arthur Elam (2005). The Tragic Drama of the Greeks. Clarendon Press. p. 414. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
  7. ^ Scholia on Aristophanes, The Knights 401
  8. ^ Hesychius of Alexandria, Alphabetical Collection of all Words, s.v. Κλύμενος
  9. ^ Ran. 151
  10. ^ Suda, s.v. Μόρσιμος
  11. ^ Johann Albert Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca vol. ii. p. 311
  12. ^ August Meineke, Fragmenta comicorum graecorum vol. ii. part ii. p. 659

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Mason, Charles Peter (1870). "Morsimus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 2. p. 1113.

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