Eupolis fr. 99, 25 PCG: imposing standards on stage?

The chapter discusses the earliest evidence for the “speaking Attic” (ἀττικίζειν) in Classical Greek and looks in particular at passages from fifth century BCE comedy. Eupolis fr. 99 PCG is chosen as a special case study in which the correct speaking of the Attic language or Attic behaviour on stage is evaluated. It is argued that Old Attic comedy contributed in a special way to the anchoring of Attic as standard Greek. On the one hand, Attic playwrights used the local dialect and thus behaved “normally”. On the other hand, the characters on stage speak in non-Attic languages for different reasons, so that the audience experiences linguistic diversity in the theatre. Through the vivid and distorted embodiment of this ongoing process on stage, comic playwrights have shaped a significant part of this linguistic diversity.