Herondas

Greek author of mimes. Eight short works survive, each about 100 lines long, revealing a realistic eye for seedy transactions and human motives. It is not clear whether they were intended for performance or for reading, but they reflect the theatrical qualities of the Greek mime, a form based on the caricature of types and bizarre situations. They were written in racy Greek and in a curious limping metre, suited to the dialogue of characters such as a schoolteacher, a temple attendant, and a shoemaker. Although Herondas's name had long been known, fragments only had survived until a papyrus manuscript discovered in El Fayum, Egypt, was published 1891.