Cratinus, one of the lost great poets of fifth-century Athenian comedy, had a formative influence on the comic genre, including Aristophanes himself. Using a methodologically innovative approach, Emmanuela Bakola studies the surviving fragments of Cratinus' plays and offers a thorough analysis of the multifaceted art of this poet and his place in the history of comedy. Issues which she addresses include the creation of a poetic personality within a performative tradition of fierce interpoetic rivalry; the play at the boundaries of the comic genre and the interaction with satyr drama and...