Il bibliagraphos di Cratino tra ‘libri’ e ‘decreti’ assembleari (PCG IV F 267)

The first occurrence of bibliagraphos is in a fragment of Cratinus’ Cheirons, a comedy produced before 430/429 BC. The role of this word in the drama is unknown: if biblion means here a ‘book’ or a ‘papyrus roll containing legal documents’, such as decrees, bibliagraphos might refer either to the ‘scribe of books’ - the character who is defended by the Cheirons who consider him as a medium of education - or to Pandeletos a proverbial figure who is found only here and in Aristophanes’ Clouds. The scholia list the latter as a sycophant, but, according to Meineke, Pandeletus may have been a politician with an odious reputation resulting from his profession as a writer of decrees (graphon psephismata).