12 Comedy and Tragedy in Agon(y): The 1902 Comedy Panathenaia of Andreas Nikolaras

Abstract

In 1902, Andreas Nikolaras (1850-?) published a modern Greek comedy in three acts and called it Panathenaia. The agon of this Athenocentric play is modeled after the second half of Aristophanes' Frogs, but the full script reveals reminiscences of other ancient comedies as well. For pitting Aristophanes against Sophocles, the modern agon delivers insight into early twentieth-century Greek conceptualizations of comedy and tragedy. Aristophanes, Sophocles, Athena, and Hermes appear as main characters and engage in a fierce debate about the value of theater versus sport and of the comic genre versus tragic poetry. These disputes reflect the surge of contemporary comedy invoking its classical pedigree, at a time when the modern Greek reception of tragedy was vibrant but crisis-prone (exemplified by the 1903 Oresteiaka riots). This chapter discusses Nikolaras' Panathenaia as a sample of modern Greek Aristophanizing comedy and also as an attempt at literary criticism (in the comic but Aristotelian vein). A first, brief study of Nikolaras' forgotten play may, therefore, make a valuable contribution to classical reception studies with focus on Aristophanes' modern Greek history and his work's creative blending with other genres and traditions. It also shows, however, how the iconic significance of ancient tragedy still outshone the meaning and function given to Attic comedy, even in a modern, Aristophanizing play. Finally, this chapter may add to our general knowledge of Greek theater history of the early twentieth century, drawing attention to marginalized texts from a neglected periphery. Introduction: Competition is Key Ὅσοι ἐπιθυμεῖτε νὰ φθάσητε μέχρι τῆς ἀρχαιότητος καὶ νὰ ἴδητε δι' ἀσθενοῦς μὲν φακοῦ ἀλλὰ συγχρόνως καὶ μεθ' ἑλληνικῆς ὑπερηφανείας τὴν μεγάλην τῆς ἀρχαιότητος εὔκλειαν καὶ τὴν χάριν τῶν μεταξὺ τοῦ θείου καὶ τῆς ἀνθρωπότητος αἰσθημάτων ἀναγνώσατε τὴν παροῦσαν κωμῳδίαν. Θὰ γελάσητε εὐγενῆ καὶ εὐφρόσυνον γέλωτα, πλήν συγχρόνως καὶ σκεπτικοὶ θὰ φιλοσοφήσητε ἐπὶ τοῦ συγχρόνου βίου. All of you, read the present comedy, you who desire to reach into antiquity and to see antiquity's great glory, [be it] through a weak lens but at the same time also with Greek pride; you who long to see the delightful sentiments of divine and human interaction. You will break into a polite and prudent laughter, except that, because you are also skeptical, you will at the same time reflect on contemporary life. (5) These words preface the 1902 comedy Panathenaia written by the playwright and poet Andreas D. Nikolaras, about whom very little is known. Theater historian Giannes Sideres mentioned this modern Greek comedy only ever so briefly in his History of Modern Greek Theater, 1794-1944. 1 Nikolaras' earliest extant publications date to the 1870s and 1880s: his one-act comedy entitled Τυφλομυία (Blind Man's Bluff) was published in Athens in 1877, and his comic idyll (Η) χαϊδεμένη (The Favorite) was 10