Comic receptions at Machon fr. 16.258-284 Gow

Machon lived in Alexandria (cf. Ath. 6.241f, 14.664a) and was most probably active in the middle of the third century bce.1 He produced comedies there (Ath. 14.664a) but he also wrote a collection of Chreiai (Χρεαι), all surviving fragments of which are preserved by Athenaeus. Chreiaiare anecdotes consisting of a short narrative leading up to a concluding joke, jibe or witticism. In his Chreiaithese are typically uttered by poets, parasites, prostitutes or potentates. Within the Chreiai, Machon fr. 16 Gow deserves more attention for what it suggests about the sophistication of his writings, his awareness and play with the comic genre, and the performance context of his anecdotes. It begins with two anecdotes that ostensibly have the same punchline, a shorter version of four lines followed by a second version of 23 lines.