Antiphanes

, one of the several ancient Greek comic poets of the same name mentioned by Suidas, Athenaeus, Strabo, and others, was either of Rhodes, Caristia, or Smyrna, and lived in the time of Alexander. This monarch expressing little taste for his comedies, the author took the liberty to inform him, that in order to enjoy them, he must be better acquainted with the nature of the subjects and the scene; from which it has been inferred that he described depraved manners. This, however, did not prevent his carrying off the prize three times. He composed three hundred and sixty-five, or at least two hundred and eighty comedies, of which Fabricius has given a list from Hertelius, Koenig, Vossius, and Meursius, who often mention these pieces of Antiphanes; and Gronovius, in his “Excerpta Comicorumj” has given the fragments found in Athenscus and other authors. The learned Koppiers has bestowed great pains on these fragments in his “Philologica observata,” Leyden, 1771, 8vo. But this poet is often confounded with others of the same name, and of other names disfigured by the blunders of transcribers. ³