Spoudaiogeloion


Spoudaiogeloion denotes the mixture of serious and comical elements stylistically. The word comes from the Greek σπουδαῖον spoudaion, "serious", and γελοῖον geloion, "comical".
The concept of the word, but not the word itself, first appears in Aristophanes's The Frogs lines 389–393, in a scene where the Chorus, who are devoted to Demeter, pray for victory: καὶ πολλὰ μὲν γελοῖά μ’ εἰπεῖν, πολλὰ δὲ σπουδαῖα, καὶ τἡς σἡς ὲορτἡς ὰείως παίσαντα και σκώψαντα νικήσαντα ταινιούσθαι. The word was first coined in the Old Comedy period.
Spoudaiogeloion was often used in satirical poems or folktales, which were funny, but had a serious, often ethical, theme. The serio-comic style became a rhetorical mainstay of the Cynics. It was also used by the Pyrrhonist philosopher Timon of Phlius. The Romans gave it its own genre in the form of satire, contributed to most notably by the poets Horace and Juvenal. It was the most common tone of the works made by Menippus and Meleager of Gadara.

Examples