Neophron

Neophron is also a genus of birds of prey, containing the Egyptian Vulture.

Neophron of Sicyon (Νεόφρων, -ονος) was one of the most prolific of the ancient Greek dramatists, to whom are accredited one hundred and twenty pieces, of which only a few fragments of his Medea remain. This, it is said, Euripides used in his tragedy which bears the same title, although modern scholarship is divided on which tragedy came first. Neophron likely lived in the second half of the fifth century B.C. and was a rough contemporary of Euripides.

As Suidas tells us, he introduced in his plays the torture of slaves, such scenes, according to the canons of dramatic art, not being produced on the stage, but merely referred to by messengers.

Sources

This article is based on text from The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 1. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906.

For a discussion of the surviving fragments of Neophron and their relation to Euripides' Medeia see the introduction to D. Page's 1938 commentary on that play.