Cratinus' Διονυσαλέξανδρος and the head of Pericles

The hypothesis of Cratinus' Διονυσαλέξανδρος (POxy 663), one of the most important pieces of evidence for non-Aristophanic comedy, raises many problems, some of which, notably the reconstruction of the pre-parabatic plot and the staging problems in the κρίσις-scene, have received a fair amount of scholarly attention. I propose to look at a feature of this play to which much less thought has been devoted in print, but which, I believe, is central to an appreciation and understanding of it: the significance of costume and costume-change.