Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης, ca. 446 BCE – ca. 386 BCE), son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus,^[2] was a prolific and much acclaimed, comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete. These, as well as fragments of some of his other plays, provide us with the only real example we have of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and they are in fact used to define the genre.^[3] Also known as the Father of Comedy and the Prince of Ancient Comedy.^[4], Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. ^[5] His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries - although more than one satirical playwright^[6] caricatured the philosopher Socrates, his student Plato^[7][8] singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander contributing to his old mentor's trial and execution. The demagogue Cleon once prosecuted Aristophanes for slandering the Athenian polis with his second play 'The Babylonians' (now lost). Details of his trial and punishment are not recorded but Aristophanes wasn't intimidated and he replied with merciless caricatures of Cleon in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights.

'In my opinion,' he says through the Chorus in that play, 'producing comedies is the hardest work of all.' (κωμῳδοδιδασκαλίαν εῖναι χαλεπώτατον ἔργον ἁπάντων)^[9]

Contents 1 Biography of a dramatist 2 Aristophanes the poet 3 Works 3.1 Surviving plays 3.2 Datable non-surviving (lost) plays 3.3 Undated non-surviving (lost) plays 4 Aristophanes in fiction 5 See also 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links

Biography of a dramatist

We know less about Aristophanes than about his plays. In fact his plays are our main source of information about him. It was conventional in Old Comedy for the Chorus to speak on behalf of the author during an address called 'the parabasis' and thus some biographical facts can be got 'straight from the horse's mouth', so to speak. The plays however contain few clear and unambiguous clues about the kind of man Aristophanes might have been.^[10] He was a comic poet in an age when it was conventional for a poet to assume the role of 'teacher' (didaskalos) and though this specifically referred to his training of the Chorus in rehearsal, it also covered his relationship with the audience as a commentator on significant issues.^[11] The writing of plays however was also a craft that could be handed down from father to son and it has been argued that Aristophanes produced plays mainly to entertain the audience and to win prestigious competitions.^[12] Aristophanes claimed to be writing for a clever and discerning audience^[13] yet he also declared that 'other times' would judge the audience according to its reception of his plays.^[14] He sometimes boasts of his originality as a dramatist^[15] yet his plays consistently espouse opposition to radical, new influences in Athenian society. He caricatured leading figures in the arts (notably Euripides, whose influence on his own work however he once begrudgingly acknowledged),^[16] in politics (especially the populist Cleon), and in philosophy/religion (where Socrates was the most obvious target). Such caricatures seem to imply that Aristophanes was an old-fashioned conservative yet that view of him leads to contradictions.^[17]

The plays were written for production at the great dramatic festivals of Athens, the Lenaia and City Dionysia, where they were judged and awarded places relative to the works of other comic dramatists. An elaborate series of lotteries, designed to prevent prejudice or corruption, narrowed the voting judges to just five in number. These judges probably reflected the mood of the audiences^[18] yet there is much uncertainty about the actual composition of those audiences.^[19] They were certainly huge, with seating for at least 10 000 at the Theatre of Dionysus, but it is not certain that they amounted to a representative sample of the Athenian citizenry. The day's program at the City Dionysia for example was crowded, with three tragedies and a 'satyr' play ahead of the comedy and it is possible that many of the poorer citizens (typically the main supporters of demagogues like Cleon) occupied the festival holiday in other pursuits. The conservative views expressed in the plays might therefore reflect the attitudes of a dominant group in an unrepresentative audience. The production process might also have influenced the views expressed in the plays. Throughout most of Aristophanes' career, the Chorus was essential to a play's success and it was recruited and funded by a 'choregus', a wealthy citizen appointed to the task by one of the archons. A choregus could regard his personal expenditure on the Chorus as a civic duty and a public honour but Aristophanes showed in The Knights how populists such as Cleon could inflict such honours on wealthy citizens as punishment.^[20]

Aristophanes' first play 'The Banqueters' (now lost) won second prize at the City Dionysia in 427 BCE. Comments made by Aristophanes in The Clouds^[21] have been interpreted as evidence that he can have been hardly more than eighteen years old when 'The Banqueters was produced.^[22] The young author won first prize with his next play, 'The Babylonians' (now lost), another polemical satire on Athenian mores. It was usual for foreign dignitaries to attend the City Dionysia, where 'The Babylonians' was performed, and some influential citizens, notably Cleon, used this as an excuse to bring Aristophanes to court on a charge of slandering the Athenian polis. The details of the trial are unrecorded but, speaking through the hero of his third play The Acharnians (staged at the Lenaia, where there were few or no foreign dignitaries), he carefully distinguishes between the polis and the real targets of his acerbic wit:

ἡμῶν γὰρ ἄνδρες, κοὐχὶ τὴν πόλιν λέγω,

μέμνησθε τοῦθ᾽ ὅτι οὐχὶ τὴν πόλιν λέγω,

ἀλλ᾽ ἀνδράρια μοχθηρά, παρακεκομμένα...^[23]

People among us, and I don't mean the polis,

Remember this - I don't mean the polis -

But wicked little men of a counterfeit kind...

Aristophanes repeatedly savages Cleon in his later plays. These satirical diatribes however appear to have had no effect on Cleon's political career - a few weeks after the performance of The Knights, a play that is full of anti-Cleon jokes, Cleon was elected to the prestigious board of ten generals.^[24] Equally, Cleon seems to have had no real power to limit or control Aristophanes since the caricatures of him continued up to and even beyond his death.

When 'The Banqueters' was produced, Athens was an ambitious, imperial power and The Peloponnesian War was only in its fourth year. Aristophanes' plays often express pride in the achievement of the older generation (the victors at Marathon)^[25][26] yet his plays are opposed to the war with Sparta and they are particularly scathing in criticism of war-profiteers,^[27][28] among whom populists such as Cleon are included. By the time his last play was produced (around 386 BCE), Athens had been defeated in war, its empire had been dismantled and it had undergone a transformation from the political to the intellectual centre of Greece.^[29] Aristophanes was part of this transformation and he shared in the intellectual fashions. The structure of his plays evolves from Old Comedy until, in Wealth II (his last surviving play), it more closely resembles New Comedy, but it is uncertain whether he led or merely responded to changes in audience expectations.^[30]

In the absence of clear biographical facts, we can sometimes make 'educated guesses' based on interpretation of the language in the plays. Inscriptions and summaries or comments by Hellenistic and Byzantine scholars can also provide useful clues. It has been inferred^[31] from statements in The Clouds and Peace that Aristophanes was prematurely bald, ^[32] and from statements in The Acharnians that he had some kind of close, personal association with the island of Aegina.^[33] The hero in 'The Acharnians' complains about Cleon 'dragging me into court' over 'last year's play'^[34] and this could indicate that Aristophanes could have acted that part in the play's performance at The Lenaia. We know from comments in The Knights^[35] and The Clouds^[36] that his first three plays were not produced in his own name. They were instead produced in the names of Callistratus and Philoneides, an arrangement that seemed to suit Aristophanes since Philoneides later produced Frogs.^[37] We know that Aristophanes was probably victorious at least once at the City Dionysia (with Babylonians in 427)^[38] and at least three times at the Lenaia, with Acharnians in 425, Knights in 424, and Frogs in 405. 'Frogs' in fact won the unique distinction of a repeat performance at the City Dionysia a few weeks later. We know that a son of Aristophanes, Araros, was also a comic poet and he could have been heavily involved in the production of his father's play Wealth II in 388^[39]. Araros is also thought to have been responsible for the posthumous performances of the now lost plays Aeolosicon II and Cocalus,^[40] and it is possible that the last of these won the prize at the City Dionysia in 387.^[41] It appears that a second son, Philippus, was twice victorious at the Lenaia^[42] and he could have produced some of Eubulus’ comedies.^[43] A third son was called either Nicostratus or Philetaerus,^[44] and a man by the latter name appears in the catalogue of Lenaia victors with two victories, the first probably in the late 370s.^[45])

Plato's The Symposium appears to be a useful source of biographical information yet the reliability of the information is open to debate.^[46] 'The Symposium' purports to be a record of conversations at a dinner party at which both Aristophanes and Socrates are guests. The party is supposed to have occurred some seven years after the performance of The Clouds (the play in which Socrates was cruelly caricatured) and yet there is no indication of any ill-feeling between the two men. Plato's Aristophanes is in fact a genial character and this has been interpreted as evidence of Plato's friendship with him^[47] (their friendship appears to be corroborated by an epitaph for Aristophanes, reputedly written by Plato, in which the playwright's soul is compared to an eternal shrine for the Graces).^[48] Plato was only a boy when the events in 'The Symposium' are supposed to have occurred and it is possible that his Aristophanes is in fact based on a reading of the plays. For example, conversation among the guests turns to the subject of Love and Aristophanes explains his notion of it in terms of an amusing allegory, a device he often uses in his plays. Aristophanes is represented as suffering an attack of hiccoughs and this might be a humorous reference to the crude physical jokes in his plays. He tells the other guests that he is quite happy to be thought amusing but he is wary of appearing ridiculous.^[49][50] This fear of being ridiculed is consistent with his declaration in 'The Knights' that he embarked on a career of comic playwright warily, fearful of the public contempt and ridicule that other dramatists had incurred.^[51]

Aristophanes was probably appointed to the Council of Five Hundred for a year at the beginning of the fourth century but such appointments were very common in democratic Athens.^[52] He lived through the tumults of The Peloponnesian War and he survived two oligarchic revolutions and two democratic restorations, from which it has been inferred that he probably was not actively involved in politics even in spite of the highly political stance of the plays.^[53] Socrates, in the trial leading up to his death, put the issue of a personal conscience in those troubled times quite succinctly:

ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τὸν τῷ ὄντι μαχούμενον ὑπὲρ τοῦ δικαίου, καὶ εἰ μέλλει ὀλίγον χρόνον σωθήσεσθαι, ἰδιωτεύειν ἀλλὰ μὴ δημοσιεύειν.^[54]

'...he who will really fight for the right, if he would live even for a little while, must have a private station and not a public one.^[55]

The role of a comic playwright was not a state office but it was very public, the plays were polemical satires deeply concerned with issues of right and wrong, and Aristophanes lived to a ripe old age.

Aristophanes the poet

The language in Aristophanes' plays, and in Old Comedy generally, was valued by ancient commentators for its exemplification of the Attic dialect. The orator Quintilian believed that the charm and grandeur of the Attic dialect made Old Comedy a model for orators to study and follow, and he considered it inferior in this respect only to the works of Homer.^[56] A revival of interest in the Attic dialect appears in fact to have been largely responsible for the recovery and circulation of Aristophanes' plays during the 4th and 5th Centuries A.D., resulting in their survival today.^[57] In Aristophanes' plays, the Attic dialect is couched in verse and his plays can be appreciated for their poetic qualities.

For Aristophanes' contemporaries the works of Homer and Hesiod were as instructive as The Bible has become for many Greeks today. Poetry therefore had a moral and social significance that made it an inevitable topic of comic satire.^[58] Aristophanes was very conscious of literary fashions and traditions and his plays feature numerous references to other poets. These not only include rival comic dramatists such as Eupolis and Hermippus^[59] and predecessors such as Magnes, Crates and Cratinus^[60], but also tragedians, notably Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, all three of whom for instance are mentioned in The Frogs. Aristophanes was the equal of these great tragedians in his subtle use of lyrics^[61]. He appears to have modelled his approach to language on that of Euripides in particular, so much so that the comic dramatist Cratinus labelled him a 'Euripidaristophanist' addicted to hair-splitting niceties.^[62]

A full appreciation of Aristophanes plays requires an understanding of the poetic forms he employed with virtuoso skill, which are appreciable through their different rhythms and associations^[63]. These can be defined in general terms according to three kinds,^[64] as indicated below:

• Iambic dialogue: Aristophanes achieves an effect resembling natural speech through the use of the six-foot iambic trimeter (corresponding to the effects achieved by English poets such as Shakespeare using iambic pentametre). His realistic use of the metre^[65] makes it ideal for both dialogue and soliloquy, as for instance in the prologue, before the arrival of the Chorus, when the audience is introduced to the main issues in the plot. The Acharnians opens with these three lines by the hero, Dikaiopolis:

How many are the things that vex my heart!

Pleasures are few, so very few - just four -

But other things, they're manysandthousandsandheaps!^[66]

Here Aristophanes employs a frequent device, arranging the syntax so that the final word in a line comes as a comic climax.^[67]. The hero's pleasures are so few he can number them (τέτταρα, four) but his causes for complaint are so many they beggar numerical description and he must invent his own word for them (ψαμμακοσιογάργαρα, literally 'sandhundredheaps', here paraphrased 'manysandthousandsandheaps'). The use of invented compound words is another comic device frequently found in the plays.^[68]

• Long lines of 7 or 8 metrical feet: often in anapests, these long lines are declaimed in unison by the Chorus (or by its Leader) when addressing the audience, and also by characters in the formal agon or debate. The length of the lines naturally enforces a pause in the middle, indicated in the translation below by a break in the lines. The anapests can seem to bowl along^[69] and it has been suggested^[70] that some of the effects achieved in a parabasis can be heard in The Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song, in act 2 of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe. Aristophanes however often varies the pace through use of complex syntax and substituted metres, so that the long lines can also be used for serious argument, as required for instance by the formal agon. In The Frogs the character Aeschylus, in debate with Euripides, presents a view of poetry that is both serious and funny and which leads to a comic interruption by the god, Dionysus:

Aes:It was Orpheus singing who taught us religion

and how wrong people are when they kill,

And we learned from Musaeus medicinal cures

and the science of divination.

If it's farming you want, Hesiod knows it all,

when to plant, when to harvest. How godlike

Homer got to be famous, I'll tell if you ask:

he taught us what all good men should know,

Discipline, fortitude, battle-readiness. Dio: But

no-one taught Pantacles - yesterday

He was marching his men up and down on parade

when the crest of his helmet fell off!^[71]

The rhythm begins at a typical anapestic gallop, slows down to consider the revered poets Hesiod and Homer, then gallops off again to its comic conclusion at the expense of the unfortunate Pantocles. Such subtle variations in rhythm are common in the plays, allowing for serious points to be made while still whetting the audience's appetite for the next joke.

• Lyrics: Almost nothing is known about the music that accompanied Greek lyrics and the metre is often so varied and complex that it is difficult for modern readers or audiences to get a feel for the intended affects, yet Aristophanes still impresses with the charm and simplicity of his lyrics.^[72] Some of the most memorable and haunting lyrics are dignified hymns set free of the comic action^[73] In the example below, taken from The Wasps, the lyric is merely a comic interlude and the rhythm is steadily trochaic. The syntax in the original Greek is natural and unforced and it was probably accompanied by brisk and cheerful music, gliding to a concluding pun at the expense of Amynias, who is thought to have lost his fortune gambling.^[74]

Though to myself I often seem

A bright chap and not awkward,

None comes close to Amynias,

Son of Sellos of the Bigwig

Clan, a man I once saw

Dine with rich Leogorus.

Now as poor as Antiphon,

He lives on apples and pomegranates

Yet he got himself appointed

Ambassador to Pharselus,

Way up there in Thessaly,

Home of the poor Penestes:

Happy to be where everyone

Is as penniless as he is!^[75]

The pun here in English translation (Penestes-penniless) is a weak version of the Greek pun Πενέσταισι-πενέστης. Many of the puns in the plays are in fact weak puns based on words that are similar rather than identical and it has been observed that there could in fact be more of them than Scholars have yet been able to identify.^[76] Sometimes entire scenes are constructed on puns, as is the case in The Acharnians with the Megarian farmer and his pigs.^[77]

It can be argued that the most important feature of the language of the plays is imagery, particularly the use of similes, metaphors and pictorial expressions.^[78] In 'The Knights' for example the ears of a character with selective hearing are compared with parasols that open and close.^[79] Some plays feature revelations of human perfectibility that are poetic rather than religious in character, such as the marriage of the hero Pisthetairos to Zeus's paramour in The Birds and the 'recreation' of 'old' Athens, crowned with violets, at the end of The Knights.

Works

Surviving plays

• The Acharnians (Ἀχαρνεῖς Acharneis, Latin: Acharnenses) (425 BC)
• The Knights (Ἱππεῖς Hippeis Latin: Equites) (424 BC)
• The Clouds (Νεφέλαι Nephelai Latin: Nubes) (original 423 BC, uncompleted revised version from 419 BC – 416 BC survives)
• The Wasps (Σφήκες Sphekes Latin: Vespae) (422 BC)
• Peace (Εἰρήνη Eirene Latin: Pax) (first version, 421 BC)
• The Birds (Ὄρνιθες Ornithes Latin: Aves) (414 BC)
• Lysistrata (Λυσιστράτη) (411 BC)
• Thesmophoriazusae or The Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria (Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι (first version, c. 411 BC)
• The Frogs (Βάτραχοι Batrachoi Latin: Ranae) (405 BC)
• Ecclesiazusae or The Assemblywomen (Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι) (c. 392 BC)
• Plutus or Wealth (Πλοῦτος) (second version, 388 BC)

Datable non-surviving (lost) plays

The standard modern edition of the fragments is Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci III.2; Kock-numbers are now outdated and should not be used.

• Banqueters (427 BC)
• Babylonians (426 BC)
• Farmers (424 BC)
• Merchant Ships (423 BC)
• Clouds (first version) (423 BC)
• Proagon (422 BC)
• Amphiaraos (414 BC)
• Plutus (Wealth, first version, 408 BC)
• Gerytades (uncertain, probably 407 BC)
• Kokalos (387 BC)
• Aiolosikon (second version, 386 BC)

Undated non-surviving (lost) plays

• Aiolosikon (first version)
• Anagyros
• Frying-Pan Men
• Daidalos
• Danaids
• Centaur
• Heroes
• Lemnian Women
• Old Age
• Peace (second version)
• Phoenician Women
• Polyidos
• Seasons
• Storks
• Telemessians
• Triphales
• Thesmophoriazusae (Women at the Thesmophoria Festival, second version)
• Women in Tents

Attributed (doubtful, possibly by Archippos)

• Dionysos Shipwrecked
• Islands
• Niobos
• Poetry

Aristophanes in fiction

• Acropolis Now (radio) - this is a comedy radio show for the BBC set in Ancient Greece. It features Aristophanes, Socrates and many other famous Greeks. (Not to be confused with the Australian sitcom of the same name)
• Aristophanes, and most frequently The Clouds, is mentioned frequently by the character Menedemos in the Hellenic Traders series of novels by H N Turteltaub.
• Aristophanes Against the World was a radio play by Martyn Wade and broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Loosely based on several of his plays, it featured Clive Merrison as Aristophanes.
• In The Odd Couple, Oscar and Felix are on Password, and when the password is bird, Felix’s clue is Aristophanes because he wrote a play called The Birds. After failing to guess it, Oscar says that the clue is ridiculous, and then when it’s Oscar’s turn to give the clue on the team’s next shot, the password is ridiculous and Oscar’s clue is Aristophanes, to which Felix instantly responds, ‘Ridiculous!’
• Aristophanes was also featured in 'The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior' as a main character.
• A liberal version of the comedies have been published in comic book format, initially by 'Agrotikes Ekdoseis' during the 90s and republished over the years by other companies. The plot was written by Tasos Apostolidis and the sketches were of George Akokalidis. The stories feature either Aristophanes narrating them, directing the play, or even living them in real.

See also

• Agathon
• Theatre of ancient Greece
• Greek literature
• Asteroid 2934 Aristophanes, named after the dramatist

References

1. ^ The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett, Penguin Books 1964, page 9.
2. ^ Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein, Penguin Books 1973, page 9
3. ^ Aristophanes:Clouds K.J.Dover (ed), Oxford University Press 1970, Intro. page X.
4. ^ Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol. 1
5. ^ The Birds and Other plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 26
6. ^ Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein, Penguin Books 1973, p16
7. ^ The Apology translated by Benjamin Jowett, [1]], section4
8. ^ Apology, Greek text, edited J Burnet, [2]] section 19c
9. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Knights ln 516
10. ^ Greek Comedy and Ideology David Konstan, Oxford University Press US 1995, page 6
11. ^ Aristophanes:The Clouds K.J.Dover, Oxford University Press 1970, Intro. page XIV
12. ^ Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds A.H.Sommerstein (ed), Penguin Books 1975, page9, footnote
13. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts,Clouds 520-25
14. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts,Clouds 560-62
15. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Wasps 1536-7, Clouds 545-48, Peace 739-58
16. ^ The Birds and Other Plays by Aristophanes David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 2003, page9
17. ^ Greek Society Antony Andrewes, Pelican Books, 1981, pages 247-48
18. ^ Aristophanes:The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett (ed), Penguin Classics 1964, page 26
19. ^ Aristophanes:The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett (ed), Penguin Classics 1964, page 25
20. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, The Knights lines 911-25
21. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, The Clouds lns 528-32
22. ^ Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein (ed), Penguin Classics 1975, page9
23. ^ The Acharnians, Wikisource[3]] lines 515-17
24. ^ The Birds and Other Plays by Aristophanes David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 34
25. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Wasps 1075-1101, Knights 565-576
26. ^ Acharnians Wikisource Greek text [4]] 692-700
27. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Wasps 669-677, Knights 438-39, 833-35, 864-67, Peace 1210-64, Birds 1410-65
28. ^ The Acharnians, Wikisource[5]] lines 910-58
29. ^ Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds A.H.Sommerstein (ed), Penguin Books 1975, pp13-14
30. ^ Aristophanes:The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett (ed), Penguin Classics 1964, page 12
31. ^ Aristophanes:The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett (ed), Penguin Books 1964, page9)
32. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Clouds 540-45, Peace 767-74
33. ^ The Acharnians Wikisource original Greek [6]] lns 652-54
34. ^ Acharnians Wikisource original Greek [7]] 377-82
35. ^ Knights 512-14
36. ^ Clouds 530-33
37. ^ Clouds Peter Meineck (translator) and Ian Storey (Introduction), Hackett Publishing 2000, page 15
38. ^ IG II² 2325. 58
39. ^ Aristophanes, testimonium 1, lines 54-56, in Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci vol. III.2 (Berlin 1984), p. 4.
40. ^ Aristophanes, Κώκαλος, testimonium iii, in Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci vol. III.2 (Berlin 1984), p. 201.
41. ^ IG II² 2318. 196
42. ^ IG II² 2325. 140
43. ^ Eubulus, testimonium 4, in Kassel-Austin, Poetae Comici Graeci vol. V (Berlin 1986), p. 188.
44. ^ Clouds Peter Meineck (translator) and Ian Storey (Introduction), Hackett Publishing 2000, page XVIII
45. ^ IG II² 2325. 143 (just after Anaxandrides and just before Eubulus)
46. ^ Aristophanes:Clouds K.J.Dover (ed), Oxford University Press 1970, Intro. page IX note 1.
47. ^ Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein (ed), Penguin Books 1973, page10
48. ^ The Birds and Other Plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page10
49. ^ 'The Symposium' original Greek text:[8]] section 189b
50. ^ The Symposium (English translation) Benjamin Jowett [9]] (scroll half way down).
51. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Knights ln 507-550
52. ^ Aristophanes:The Birds and Other Plays D.Barrett and A.Sommerstein (eds),Penguin Classics 2003, page 7
53. ^ Aristophanes:Clouds K.J.Dover (ed), Oxford University Press 1970, Introduction page IX
54. ^ Wikisource, Plato's Apology, John Burnet (ed)[10]] section 32a
55. ^ Plato's Apology, Benjamin Jowett (trans)[11]] (section23).
56. ^ The Orator's Training Quintilian 10.1.65-6, cited in The Birds and Other Plays by Aristophanes David Barrett and Alan Sommersteinn (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 15
57. ^ ibidem
58. ^ The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett (ed), Penguin Classics 1964, pages 151-52
59. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Clouds lns 553-54
60. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Knights lns 519-40
61. ^ The Frogs and Other Plays David Barrett, Penguin Classics 1964, page 30
62. ^ The Birds and Other Plays by Aristophanes David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 9
63. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell (ed), Oxford University Press 1978, page 21
64. ^ Birds and Other Plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, pages 7-8
65. ^ Birds and Other Plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 27; Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell (ed), Oxford University Press 1978, page 16
66. ^ Original Greek, Wikisource The Acharnians [12]] lines 1-3; English translation for this article by User:Lucretius
67. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell (ed), Oxford University Press 1978, page17
68. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell (ed), Oxford University Press 1978, page13; Aristophanes:Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, page 37
69. ^ Birds and Other Plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 27
70. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell (ed), Oxford University Press 1978, page27
71. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 2, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Frogs lns 1032-38; English translation for this article by User:Lucretius
72. ^ Birds and Other Plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 27
73. ^ Greek Drama, Peter Levi, in The Oxford History of the Classical World edited by J.Boardman, J.Griffin and O.Murray, Oxford University Press 1986, page 175
74. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell (ed), Oxford University Press 1978, page27
75. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell, Oxford University Press 1978, lines 1265-74: Wikisource: [13]]; English translation for this article by User:Lucretius:
76. ^ Birds and Other Plays David Barrett and Alan Sommerstein (eds), Penguin Classics 2003, page 21
77. ^ The Acharnians Wikisource original Greek [14]] lns 729-835
78. ^ Aristophanes Wasps Douglas MacDowell, Oxford University Press 1978, page 17
79. ^ Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F.W.Hall and W.M.Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Knights lns 1347-48;

Further reading

• Henderson, Jeffrey The Maculate Muse: Obscene Language in Attic Comedy 1991 Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-506685-5

• reviewed by W.J. Slater, Phoenix, Vol. 30, No. 3 (Autumn, 1976), pp. 291-293 doi:10.2307/1087300

• Platter, Charles. Aristophanes and the Carnival of Genres (Arethusa Books). Baltimore, MD; London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006 (hardcover, ISBN 0-8018-8527-2).
• Lee, Jae Num. 'Scatology in Continental Satirical Writings from Aristophanes to Rabelais' and 'English Scatological Writings from Skelton to Pope.' Swift and Scatological Satire. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1971. 7-22; 23-53.
• Aristophanes and the Comic Hero by Cedric H. Whitman Author(s) of Review: H. Lloyd Stow The American Journal of Philology, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan., 1966), pp. 111-113
• G. M. Sifakis The Structure of Aristophanic Comedy The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 112, 1992 (1992), pp. 123-142 doi:10.2307/632156

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Aristophanes

• The Eleven Comedies (in translation) at eBooks @ Adelaide
• Aristophanes Texts Biography and texts of Aristophanes
• The texts of Aristophanes' plays (in translation)
• Works by Aristophanes at Project Gutenberg
• Contribution to the English Language
• List of films based on Aristophanes plays
• Today's Audiences Just Don't Get Me Satirical article written 'by' Aristophanes at The Onion
• Life of Aristophanes
• Hubert Parry wrote music for The Birds
• SORGLL: Aristophanes, Birds 227-62; read by Stephen Daitz

v • d • e Surviving plays by Aristophanes The Acharnians · The Knights · The Clouds · The Wasps · Peace · The Birds · Lysistrata · Thesmophoriazusae · The Frogs · Ecclesiazusae · Plutus

Persondata
NAME	Aristophanes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Athenian comic dramatist
DATE OF BIRTH	circa 446 BC
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH	circa 388 BC
PLACE OF DEATH

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