Epicharmus (c. 530–c. 440 BC)

Greek comic poet, reputedly one of the founders of comedy. He was also regarded as a philosopher because of a philosophical poem, probably by somebody else, written under his name. Born on the island of Kos, as a young man he went to Megara in Sicily. After its destruction by Gelon 484 he moved to Syracuse and lived at the court of Hieron I until his death. Of his work 35 titles and a few fragments survive.