Editing Old Comedy (section)

{{Short description|Earliest period of ancient Greek comedic drama}}
[[File:Thalia sarcophagus Louvre Ma475.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Thalia (Muse)|Thalia]], [[muse]] of comedy, gazing upon a comic mask (detail from ''Muses' Sarcophagus'')]]
'''Old Comedy''' is the first period of the [[ancient Greek comedy]], according to the canonical division by the [[Alexandrian grammarians]].<ref name="Mastromarco94">Mastromarco (1994) p.12</ref> The most important Old Comic playwright is [[Aristophanes#Aristophanes and Old Comedy|Aristophanes]] – whose works, with their daring political commentary and abundance of sexual innuendo, ''de facto'' define the genre. The only extant plays of Old Comedy are credited to Aristophanes. There are only fragments and 'testimonia' of all other Old Comedy playwrights and plays.