Nicochares

Nicochares (Greek: Νικοχάρης, died ca. 345 BC) was an Athenian poet of the Old Comedy, son of the comic playwright Philonides and contemporary with Aristophanes.[1] The titles of Nicochares' plays, as enumerated by Suidas, are, Αμυμώνη (Amymone), Πέλοψ (Pelops), Γαλάτεια (Galatea), Ηρακλής Γάμων (Hercules Getting Married), Ηρακλής Χορηγός (Hercules the Play-Producer), Κρήτες (Cretans), Λάκωνες (The Laconians), Λημνίαι (Lemnian Women), Κένταυροι (Centaurs), and Χειρογάστορες (Those Living Hand-to-Mouth). Although, as Augustus Meineke had ingeniously conjectured, the two first titles may merely be two different names from the same comedy, considering the fact that Πέλοψ does not occur in its alphabetical place, and, in reference to the latter, the name "Oenomaüs" occurs in quotations from Αμυμωνη mentioned by Athenaeus.

From the extant fragments of Nicochares' work, one can only infer that he treated in the style of the Old Comedy—occasionally rising into tragic dignity. It is also evident that his comedies were influenced by the legends and local traditions of his country, and, undoubtedly, served to ridicule the peculiarities of the neighboring states.