Note 738 — Chapter V · THE ACTORS

The name for the tragic boot in Greek was ἐμβάτης (Suid. s.v. Αἰσχύλος), ὀκρίβας (Lucian, Nero c. 9), or κόθορνος (vit. Aesch.). Cothurnus was the regular name in Latin. Pollux (iv. 115) appears to be mistaken in calling ἐμβάτης the comic boot, in opposition to the notices in other grammarians. The sole of the cothurnus was of wood, as appears from Schol. Lucian, Epist. Saturn. 19. Works of art show that it was painted: see Wieseler, Denkmäler, vii, viii; and cp. Ovid. Am. ii. 18. 15 ‘risit Amor pallamque meam pictosque cothurnos’.