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Achaeus of Eretria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Achaeus of Eretria (in Greek Aχαιος; born 484 BC in Euboea) was a Greek playwright author of tragedies and satyr plays, variously said to have written 24, 30, or 44 plays, of which 19 titles are known, some of which include Adrastus, Linus, Cycnus, Eumenides, Philoctetes, Pirithous, Theseus, and Œdipus.
His first play was produced in 447 BC and won a victory. A quote in Aristophanes' The Frogs suggests he was dead by 405 BC. Some classicists suggest that his winning only one prize was due to him not an Athenian by birth, and the men of Athens were loath to honor any but their own fellow-citizens.
Achaeus of Eretria belongs to the classic age, but was not himself a classic, though his satyric plays were much admired for their spirited style, albeit somewhat labored and lacking in clearness. The philosopher Menedemus thought his plays second only to Aeschylus, he was part of the Alexandrian canon, and Didymus wrote a commentary on him. Athenaeus (10.451c) describes him as having a lucid style, but with tendencies to obscurity. Athenaeus also claimed that Euripides took a line from Achaeus, while Aristophanes quotes him twice, in The Frogs and The Wasps.