PHRYNICHUS, one of the last writers of the old comedy at Athens, flourished B. C. 435, and was the contemporary of Euripides, Euripides, and Aristophanes. He obtained the second prize, B. C. 405, the year before Athens was taken by the Spartans. Plutarch states, that in one of his plays he defended Alcibiades when he was accused of having mutilated the statues of Hermes. Aristophanes ridicules Phrynichus for introducing too frequently on the stage characters in low life. The fragments of Phrynichus have been collected by Morel, Ex Veterum Comicorum Fabulis quæ integra non extant, Par. 1553; by Hertelius, Vetustissimorum Comicorum Sententia, Bâle, 1560; and by Grotius, Excerpta ex Tragædiis et Comædiis, Gr. Lat. Par. 1626.