Hipponax’s targets include a ship-painter and a potter. His arch-enemy Boupalos is identified as a sculptor; his brother and fellow sculptor Athenis is also addressed. The presence of these visual artists is coupled with a well-known biographical tradition: Boupalos and Athenis made a mocking caricature of the poet and presented it for public laughter; he in return produced such caustic verses about the brothers that they hanged themselves in shame. Such material underlies the recent interest in Hipponax’s role in ‘intermedial competition’: as a critic or competitor vis-à-vis other artistic genres.

This paper looks anew at possible competition between visual and verbal art in Hipponax. I argue that while certain individuals identified as visual artists (especially Boupalos, of course) are subject to derision, the text of Hipponax provides no evidence for rivalry between verbal and visual arts as such. However, the poet draws attention to the uses of human vocalization, his own and others’, displaying a rich vocabulary to describe the range and effects of oral communication. Exploring how variously Hipponax represents the act of speaking, in sharp contrast with the practice of his predecessor Archilochus, allows us to discern a new dimension of his art: his fascination with verbal expression.