In recent decades, thanks to the work of scholars such as the TrGF editors and many others including (but hardly limited to) C. Collard, M.J. Cropp, K.H. Lee, J. Gibert and M. Wright, the fragments of Greek tragedy have been subject to exponentially increasing attention. Yet work remains biased towards Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Greek Fragmentary Tragedians Online (henceforth FragTrag) is the latest, and first digital, endeavour to increase the visibility of the ‘fragmentary tragedians’, a term that the editors prefer to the traditional tragici minores or Wright’s ‘neglected authors’ (Antonopoulos et al., ‘Developing a Database for the Greek Fragmentary Tragedians’, Digital Classics Online 9 [2023], 19–20). FragTrag is an open access database gathering ancient evidence related to these tragedians, essentially marrying B. Snell and R. Kannicht’s extensive critical edition (TrGF I) and Wright’s Lost Plays of Greek Tragedy Vol. I (2016), which summarises what is know of these fragmentary authors and their works.
The scope of the project is concisely presented on the website’s home page: ‘[a] database dedicated to the life and fragmentary works (tragedies and satyr dramas) of c. 200 tragedians from the 6th century bc down to the 5th ad’. At its current stage the project has covered 45 poets; FragTrag does not feature the fragments of Aeschylus, Sophocles or Euripides.
The project began its life at the University of Patras (2020–2024) and is now led by Antonopoulos at the University of Ioannina, with the assistance of an editorial team consisting of postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers, technical associates and an advisory board of international scholars. The database is formed from two digital editions: Greek Fragmentary Tragedians Online: Fragmentary Plays (ed. Antonopoulos) and Greek Fragmentary Tragedians Online: Testimonia and Biographies (edd. Antonopoulos, Chronopoulos, Taktikou, Psomiadou and Giakimtsouki-Magaraki).
The major benefit of having such a database online is its ability to be continuously updated. With traditional publications, one might have to wait potentially years until an edition is complete (particularly as this project’s goal is to eventually cover c. 200 tragedians), whereas this database allows the editors to upload relevant material gradually, providing instant access for users.
The site is easy to navigate; the ‘Poets and Works’ page brings users to a chronological list of tragedians. From here, there are three subcategories for each poet that can be accessed: ‘Biography’ (which also features further reading), ‘Testimonia’ and ‘Fragmenta’. For both ‘Testimonia’ and ‘Fragmenta’, the source, critical text and English translation are provided. Under ‘Fragmenta’, texts are sorted by play and subdivided between ‘fragments’ and ‘reports’, the former being text attributed to the play and the latter being any additional information. In the case of book fragments, the wider context from the source text is helpfully included. On the ‘Testimonia’ and ‘Fragmenta’ pages, the notes (both clickable and listed at the bottom of the page) provide an apparatus criticus and explanatory information for the relevant word or phrase.
There are six resources under the heading of ‘Tools’: ‘Full Text Search’, ‘Timeline of Events’, ‘Index of Gods and Heroes’, ‘Index of Places’, ‘Index of Sources’ and ‘FragTrag.1 vs Snell/Kannicht’. The ‘Full Text Search’ allows users to browse the entire corpus, and below the search box there is helpful guidance for the various types of searches one might conduct. The results are clear and provide the relevant text (whether testimonia or fragments) and poet.
The ‘Timeline of Events’ is a great visual resource, which clearly places these tragedians in relation to each other and includes events connected with Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides as helpful touchpoints. An event is defined as ‘related to one or more tragedians, a specific dramatic contest, or a particular dramatic performance’ (Antonopoulos et al., ‘A Digital Timeline of Greek Theatre Events’, Digital Classics Online 10[1] [2024], 5). Apart from the ability to browse the fragments via the ‘Poets and Works’ page, this is my favourite aspect of the database, as it highlights how prevalent many of these fragmentary tragedians were.
The three indexes are almost identical; all feature a clickable alphabetical list of their respective topics that will provide the relevant texts. It struck me that these indexes provide an exciting opportunity to integrate similar projects within Classics. This could work especially well for sources. For example, FragTrag provides one inscription as a source (IG II2 2363), but its link unfortunately does not work; it is, however, helpfully available on The Packard Humanities Institute Inscriptions database. Finally, FragTrag’s numbering differs from Snell/Kannicht; so the editors have provided a helpful tool to find the corresponding fragment of each poet, which is then divided between testimonia and fragments.
There are some minor aesthetic issues, but they do not impact a user’s experience. For example, the button to return to the ‘Poets and Works’ page is represented by an image of a file, and the three lines on the right, usually a dropdown menu, provide a blank page. On the ‘Poets and Works’ page, under each tragedian’s name, there are links to a VIAF and Wikidata page. VIAF collects name variants of ancient authors, and Wikidata is for machine-readable facts about any historical person or mythical entity. These resources are likely helpful to those more familiar with the technical aspects of databases than I am. Within the texts of the fragments and testimonia, any names of sources, gods and heroes are hyperlinked. It is worth noting that these links will bring users to their VIAF page, whereas going via the index will provide the texts with which they are associated.
This database, being both thorough and accessible, is a welcome contribution to the growing interest in fragmentary literature and its importance. The editors have collected disparate and manifold data into a user-friendly website that will introduce both academics and the wider public to these neglected authors.
