PREFACE

Extract this study of Eupolis first stirred in the Michaelmas term of 1969, when I was casting about for a topic for an Oxford B.Phil. thesis. My adviser, Nigel Wilson, to whom first thanks are owed, suggested a commentary on the fragments of Eupolis’ Demoi, an idea that was scuttled by Plepelits's publication of his doctoral thesis on that very subject. But Eupolis was always in the back of my mind, and finally forced his way forward in the late 1980s, when the dating of his lost plays intrigued me, leading to an article on the subject in Phoenix (1990). I owe much to many people and institutions. Four of the latter deserve a special mention: Robin Bond and the Classics Department at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, where I found a second home, congenial colleagues, and very patient librarians; Wolfson College (Oxford) for terms as a Visiting Scholar in 1990 and 1996 and the use of the libraries of the late Sir Ronald Syme and Professor David Lewis; the Center for Hellenic Studies in Washington for a Summer Fellowship in 1997, where the interaction with other fellows and access to their superb library accelerated this study; and finally to Nigel Kennell and the Canadian Archaeological Institute in Athens, who entertained me hospitably in 2001 and made a special trip out to the Mesogeia to photograph what remains of Prospalta. I also thank various audiences for patiently enduring my developing thoughts on Eupolis, specifically those at the classics departments at Auckland, Victoria University of Wellington, Tasmania, Calgary, Concordia, Exeter, Queen's, Boston University, Toronto, and especially that at Otago University, where I discovered that members of that department had read the fragments of Eupolis and were more than prepared to do battle. Most of Chapter 1 had to be rewritten in response to John Barsby's perceptive question, ‘Who knows or quotes Eupolis?’ Several meetings of the Classical Association of Canada and the Classical Association of the Middle West and South also had to endure presentations on various fragments and aspects of Eupolis. Their comments and questions were always useful in redirecting my thoughts. In addition, I thank the audiences of two international conferences for their perceptive observations (‘Tragedy, Comedy and the Polis’, Nottingham, 1990; and ‘The Rivals of Aristophanes’, London, 1996).

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