Pytine

//[|Cratinus' Pytine]//

//Pytine// is derived from the [|Ancient Greek] word for wineflask, referring to the shape of the glabella.

Cratinus was regarded as one of the three great masters of Athenian Old Comedy (the others being [|Aristophanes] and [|Eupolis]), although his poetry is several times described as relatively graceless, harsh, and crudely abusive (test. 17; 19); his plays continued to be read and studied in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. He wrote 21 comedies. 514 fragments (including ten dubia) of his comedies survive, along with 29 titles. His most famous play is the //Pytine//.
 * Cratinus** (Greek: Κρατῖνος; 519 BC – 422 BC) was an Athenian comic poet of the [|Old Comedy].


 * From the fragments of //Pytine// that remain it seems Cratinus had an actor portraying himself (Cratinus) as the booze-soaked Grand Old Man of Attic comedy at the time.**


 * Not only was //Pytine// Cratinus’ last comedy, but it took First Prize at the Dionysia of 423 BCE. In second place was Ameipsias with his comedy //Connus//, about the Sophist philosophers and in third place was Aristophanes with //The Clouds//, which was likewise about the Sophists, with Socrates as the main character.**

//Pytine//
The //Pytine// (The Wineflask) was Cratinus' most famous play. A grammarian describes the background of the play as follows: In 424 BC, [|Aristophanes] produced [|The Knights], in which he described Cratinus "as a drivelling old man, wandering about with his crown withered, and so utterly neglected by his former admirers that he could not even procure to quench the thirst of which he was perishing"[|[][|2][|]][|[][|3][|]] Soon after that play, Cratinus responded by producing a play called //Pytine// (The Wineflask) in 423 BC, which defeated the //Connus// of [|Ameipsias] and //[|The Clouds]// of Aristophanes, which was produced in the same year.[|[][|4][|]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cratinus