Several manuscripts attribute authorship to one man, Hierocles.
Others add the name of a man of letters (grammatikos), Philagrius.
All guesswork to the contrary, we really have no idea who these
people were; whether they worked as a team to compile the jokes,
or whether one lived years or generations after the other.
Though Philogelos is the only joke book to survive from ancient (not
medieval) times, we know that plenty of others had existed, at least
from the classical period onward. So Hierocles and Philagrius, if
they were ever real, undoubtedly had competitors.
Despite the differences, great and small, among the various
manuscripts of our joke book, they all agree on one point: its
title. As a title, “Philogelos“ is unique: it confirms the integrity and
originality of the work itself. Literally, it means “lover of laughter,”
and is obviously meant as a parody of those other, more serious,
philo-compounds like philo-sophos (“lover of wisdom”) and philo-
timos (“lover of honour”). In the end, the title is perfect for the work,
as a sort of backhand gesture at those who tend to take anything in
human life too seriously. After all, a life without laughter, as the title
implies, is not worth living.
Bill Berg
Gearhart, Oregon
August 2008
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