In mythology and folklore, the Centaur and the Sphinx are hybrid monsters who combine human and animal elements in a single form. Comic poets took advantage of the dual nature of these mythological creatures in order to enrich their dramas and provoke laughter. Two main techniques of paratragedy are being used for the depiction of this type of creatures in GreekComedy: “atticization” and metatheatricality. When transferred to the comic stage and played by actors, these hybrid monsters lose part of their “monstrosity” and are assimilated to comic types: the Centaur, for example, turns into an old man and Oedipus’ Sphinx is depicted as a half-animal crone. The main source of comic effect is this clash between the mythical and the ordinary: monsters are presented as Athenian citizens living in everyday circumstances and citizens are likened to these mythical beasts accordingly. The incorporation of these monsters into domestic plots and their ludicrous portrayal by padded actors result in revealing their artificiality and consequently stressing their “humanization” over their savagery.
