Chaeremon
Who was Chaeremon?
4th century BC Greek dramatist and poet
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Chaeremon (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Chaeremon was an Athenian dramatist and poet in the early fourth century BC. He's mainly known as a tragic poet along with Choerilus, but the Suda also calls him a comic poet, showing a versatility rare among his peers. His reputation largely comes from later writers, especially Aristotle, whose critiques preserved much of what we know about Chaeremon's dramatic style.
Aristotle noted that Chaeremon's work was written for reading rather than stage performance. This set him apart from the typical Athenian drama scene, where plays were created for live performances at religious festivals like the Dionysia. Whether Chaeremon chose this path intentionally or it reflected his situation is unclear, but it suggests he might have foreseen or influenced a shift toward drama as a written art separate from theater.
His known works include tragedies like Alphesiboea, Dionysus, Io, Minyae, Odysseus, Oeneus, and Thyestes. The play Achilles Thersitoktonos, or 'Achilles Slayer of Thersites,' seems to be a satyric drama, mixing tragic themes with comic and fantastical elements. Aristotle described his work Centaurus, or Centaur, as a rhapsody using various meters, making it a formally unique piece that challenged easy categorization.
Chaeremon’s surviving fragments show technical skill with formal correctness and rhythmic flow. However, ancient critics also noted a florid style, likened to playwright Agathon's ornate, sometimes over-elaborate, language. Chaeremon was known for detailed descriptions of things like flowers and female beauty, often added without strong dramatic need, suggesting a preference for lyrical detail over tight structure.
Chaeremon is credited with at least three epigrams in the Greek Anthology, located at Palatine VII, entries 469, 720, and 721, though scholars debate his authorship. A maxim cited by Plutarch, 'Luck, not wisdom, rules the affairs of men,' was used as the opening for Plutarch's essay on chance, ensuring this single thought by Chaeremon would be remembered through later times.
Before Fame
We don't have any surviving ancient sources that tell us about Chaeremon's early life, his family, education, or what led him to dramatic poetry. He became known as a literary figure in the early fourth century BC in Athens, a city where the theatrical scene was shaped by the great playwrights of the fifth century: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Any playwright from Chaeremon's era would have had to work with the legacy of these past greats, seeing it both as an opportunity and a challenge.
In early fourth century Athens, there was a growing interest in rhetoric, philosophy, and written literature, which likely pushed Chaeremon to see drama more as a literary form than just a theatrical one. During this time, there was also more mixing of genres, as poets and playwrights tried new things with metre, style, and topics. Chaeremon's work, Centaurus, with its varied metres, is a good example of this trend.
Key Achievements
- Composed tragedies covering a wide range of mythological subjects, including Alphesiboea, Io, Thyestes, Oeneus, Odysseus, Dionysus, and Minyae.
- Authored the formally experimental Centaurus, recognized by Aristotle as a mixed-metre rhapsody that crossed generic boundaries.
- Produced what appears to be a satyric drama, Achilles Thersitoktonos, demonstrating range across dramatic subgenres.
- Had a philosophical maxim preserved by Plutarch as the epigraph to a major essay, securing a place in the philosophical literary tradition.
- Contributed to the development of literary drama intended for reading, anticipating a later tradition of closet drama in the ancient world.
Did You Know?
- 01.Aristotle specifically noted that Chaeremon's plays were written to be read rather than performed on stage, an unusual characteristic for an Athenian dramatist of the period.
- 02.His work the Centaurus was described by Aristotle as a rhapsody written in all kinds of metres, making it a formally experimental piece that does not fit neatly into any single ancient genre.
- 03.The title Achilles Thersitoktonos, meaning 'Achilles Slayer of Thersites,' draws on the post-Homeric tradition in which Achilles kills the abrasive Greek soldier Thersites, a story not found in the Iliad.
- 04.Plutarch chose Chaeremon's maxim 'Luck, not wisdom, rules the affairs of men' as the epigraph to his philosophical essay on chance, preserving the line across the centuries.
- 05.His descriptive passages on flowers and female beauty were singled out by ancient critics as examples of ornate digression, with his style compared unfavorably to the similarly florid Agathon.