The Sicilian Character of Sophron's Mimes

Performed across the ancient Mediterranean in a variety of contexts from at least the classical period onward, mime was a flexible dramatic form that was not associated with any one time or place in the way that, for example, tragedy was associated with Classical Athens. Specific mimes, however, could be rooted in their place of origin, particularly those written by the Sicilian mime writer Sophron in the 5^th century BCE. As J.H. Hordern claims in the introduction to his edition of Sophron’s fragments, Sophron’s prose “suggests someone consciously asserting a local identity” (2004, 1). Scholarship on Sophron has considered this question in a broad sense by investigating his use of the Doric dialect in the mimes and Doric features as they appear in later mimes (e.g. Kutzko 2012); it has also examined the connections between Sophron and the Syracusan comic playwright Epicharmus (e.g. Tosetti 2018).This paper augments that earlier work by investigating the fragments of Sophron for evidence of how he used informal comedic pieces to express a localized Sicilian identity and then contemplates the position of Sophron in the formation of a Sicilian dramatic/literary repertoire.

I begin with a discussion of Sophron’s use of the Doric dialect, considering how the ancient preservation of many of his fragments as examples of Doric forms helps modern scholars assess his use of that dialect, but especially the Syracusan character of his language. Here I also engage with Cassio’s work on the ways that Doric was used in comedy (2002). I then add to this conversation by investigating connections between the works of Sophron and Epicharmus, the 5^th-century Sicilian comic playwright, especially the way that both employ verbal humour like obscenity, use of new terms, and paradox (Tosetti 2018), arguing that such similarities suggest a uniquely Sicilian style of punning humor. I build on those discussions of dialect and verbal humour by considering Sophron’s use of localized references in his mimes, especially to seafood (shellfish in particular, e.g. the conch in fr. 24) and local mythological traditions (e.g. the testimonium on fr. 7 on connections between Persephone and Hecate). I conclude by looking at Sophron’s role in the formation of a Sicilian dramatic/literary canon, especially as expressed in the work of the Hellenistic authors Theocritus and Herodas.

Sophron’s mimes, despite their highly fragmentary state, speak to a Sicilian tradition of comic performance that continued well into the Hellenistic period. They also attest to the ways that mime, fundamentally adaptable and responsive to varying contexts, could directly represent the local culture in which it was produced.