Aristophanes
Ancient Greek comic playwright of Old Comedy.
From Athens, the Ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes authored forty plays; only eleven of these survive in a virtually complete state.[1] The religious festivals of Athens, particularly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, were the venues for his plays' performances, and a number of these productions secured first prize.[1]
Quick Facts
- Born
- c. 446 BC
- Birthplace
- Athens, Greece
- Died
- c. 386 BC (aged c. 60)
- Occupation
- Playwright (comedy)
- Years active
- 427 BC – 386 BC
- Known for
- Playwright and director of Old Comedy
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
The Babylonians caused embarrassment for Athenian authorities because it depicted Delian League cities as slaves grinding at a mill.[2] Aristophanes caricatured leading figures in the arts, politics, and philosophy, including Euripides, Cleon, and Socrates.[3] Aristophanes was a citizen of the deme Kydathenaion, which belonged to the Attic tribe Pandionis; his parents were Philippus (father) and Zenodora (mother).[4] In 427 BC, his debut play The Banqueters earned second prize at the City Dionysia, while his subsequent play The Babylonians achieved first prize at the same festival.[2]
He asserted that his work targeted an intelligent and discriminating audience and occasionally took pride in his innovative qualities as a dramatist.[5] For the majority of his career, a play's success heavily depended on the Chorus, which was financed by a choregus, a wealthy citizen designated for that duty.[6] Evidence suggests Aristophanes achieved victory at the City Dionysia on at least one occasion and at the Lenaia on at least three occasions.[7]
What the cited sources add
The orator Quintilian considered Aristophanes one of the best writers of Old Comedy, alongside Eupolis and Cratinus.[8] Quintilian held that Old Comedy, due to the charm and grandeur of the Attic dialect, served as a model worthy of study for orators.[9] Ancient commentators valued the language of Aristophanes's comedies as a prime example of the Attic dialect.[9] A renewed interest in the Attic dialect during the fourth and fifth centuries AD may have led to the rediscovery and transmission of his plays.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ;; Dover 1970, p. x; Thorburn 2005, p. 67 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Greek Drama" P. Levi in The Oxford History of the Classical World J. Boardman, J. Griffin, O. Murray (eds), Oxford University Press 1986, p. 177 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ;; ;; Sidwell 2009, p. 111-112 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Clouds, pp. 520–525; Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, Clouds, pp. 560–562; Wasps 1536–1537 [http://el.wikisource.org/wiki/%CE%A3%CF%86%CE%AE%CE%BA%CE%B5%CF%82 ] Wikisource (original Greek), Clouds, pp. 545–548, Peace, pp. 739–758 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Aristophanis Comoediae Tomus 1, F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds), Oxford Classical Texts, The Knights lines 911–925; Rennie, W. The Acharnians of Aristophanes, Edward Arnold (London, 1909), p. 7 (reproduced by Bibliolife) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: IG II<sup>2</sup> 2325. 58 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Quintilian 10.1.65–66 10.1.61. facts only, no text reused. penelope.uchicago.edu
- Wikipedia, "Aristophanes" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: The Orator's Training Quintilian 10.1.65–66, cited in; Quintilian 10.1.65–66 10.1.61; The Orator's Training Quintilian 10.1.65–66, cited in (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Aristophanes (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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