Tractatus Coislinianus as a 5th-Century Greek Old Comedy Metatext

The purpose of this paper is to present the question of poetics of ancient Greek comedy described in so called Tractatus Coislinianus (no. 120). It is an ancient Greek 10^th-century manuscript. The text is not very long and detailed but of high scientific value. For modern scholars Coislinianus is the most important technical treatise on comedy, because it is outlining the theory of comedy that most likely was the subject of the lost second book of the Poetics by Aristotle.

In Tractatus Coislinianus the anonymous author presents theatrical and literary information about comedy. By analysing the text we can learn about specific qualitative and quantitative elements, comic plot and sources of humor. The most important part of the Tractatus is probably statement about the purpose of comic art. Comedy, just like tragedy, has the same purpose, that of purgation (katharsis). While tragedy invokes pity and fear in order to purging those emotions, comedy invokes laughter and pleasure.

The paper also includes a presentation of selected examples from Aristophanes’ plays to emphasise the strong connection between the Tractatus’ text and 5^th-century Greek comedy.