Osservazioni sulla ‘detorsio in comicum’ nel ‘Ciclope’ di Filosseno: fra tradizione omerica, critica metamusicale e satira politica

The process of ‘civilization’ led by the ancient comedy and the satir play on the figure of Polyphemus seems not to be similarly attested for the Cyclops of Philoxenus of Cythera, although it was recognized as a comic character by the ancient sources. Through the analysis of the fragments and the historical context of the dithyrambic performance, the aim of this paper is to suggest that the Cyclops ‘kitharoidos’ by Philoxenus would have been depicted in a more primitive way than the Homeric model in order to conduct a criticism of the anomia both in the nomoi of Timotheus and in the political leadership of Dionysius I.