Aristophanes
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Aristophanes (ca. 446 BC - 385 BC) was a Greek comic poet.
The place and even the exact date of his birth are unknown, but he was probably educated in Athens. He is famous for writing comedies such as The Birds for the two Athenian festivals: the Dionysia and the Lenea. He wrote at least 30 plays, 11 of which still survive, and his plays are the only surviving examples of Greek Old Comedy. Many of his plays were political, and often satirized the well-known citizens of Athens and their conduct in the Peloponnesian War. He is known to have been prosecuted for Athenian law's equivalent of libel more than once. A famous comedy, The Frogs, was given the unprecedented honor of a second performance.
He appears in Plato's Symposium, giving a humorous mythical account of the origin of Love. The Clouds pokes fun at famous figures, notably Socrates, and may have contributed to the common misconception of the philosopher as a Sophist. Lysistrata was written during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and presents a pacifist theme in a comical manner: the women of the two states deprive their husbands of sex until they stop fighting. This play was later illustrated at length by Pablo Picasso.
Surviving Plays
See also: Agathon, Greek literature
External links
Referenced By
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Aristophanes".
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If you know facts or have questions about this author post them here.
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He lived from 448-388 BC. 11 of his plays still exist today: The Wasps, The Acharnians, The Knights, The Clouds, The Peace, The Birds, Lysistrata, Thesmophorazusae, The Frogs, The Ecclesiazusae, and The Plutus. Aristophanes was the first major comedic writer of Ancient Greece. He created Old Comedy.
Hope it helps
tuntooni
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IT WAS GREAT
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Aristophanes is the hardest person to track down!! he's soo busy with writing he hasn't had a chance to call me since last month!!
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His play the Archarnians was the world's first antiwar comedy
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(448-388 BC) Aristophanes was an ancient Greek comedy playwright. He helped create a style of comedy that would stand as a future landmark in literature. It was a mix of topical satire and just blatant silliness, often aimed at Athenian politicians, celebrities, and intellectuals of the time. His early plays up to “Women at the Thesmophoria” (410 BC), were very traditional in form, using the chorus heavily as well as the parabasis, which is a speech addressed to the audience. His later plays, beginning with “The Frogs” (405 BC), had more elaborate plots and set the precedent for Greek New Comedy. Little is known, however, of actual details within Aristophanes' life. Most of what has been pieced together is based on references in his own plays. Although it is known that he was born about 450 BC and was an Athenian citizen, his place of birth is uncertain. His first play was produced in Athens in about 427 BC.
Eleven of his forty plays are read and performed today. However, historians have divided the work of Aristophanes into three periods. The first period ended about 421 B.C. and included two of his lost plays as well as five of the surviving ones. For some reason Aristophanes' first three plays were brought out under the name of one of his actors. They included the two lost plays, The Banqueters and The Babylonians, and the prize-winning “Acharnians.” “The Knights”, which won first prize in 424 B.C., was brought out under the author's own name. It contained a sharp attack on the current ruler Cleon, and, because no actor was willing to incur the enmity of so powerful a person, Aristophanes had to play the part of Cleon himself. “The Clouds” (423 B.C.) contains the famous dialogue scene between the Just and the Unjust argument, bitterly spiting Sophocles. “The Wasps” (422 B.C.) ridiculed the regular courts of justice. “The Peace” (421 B.C.) was written in the interests of the recently concluded peace between Athens and Sparta. During the seven years that passed before Aristophanes exhibited another play, a law had been passed to restrict political satire.
In the second group, beginning with “The Birds” (414 B.C.) he turned to social satire and ridiculed the Athenians’ fondness for litigation. “Lysistrata” (411 B.C.) represents a woman's efforts to bring about peace, while “Thesmophoriazusae” of the same year contains an attack on Euripides.
“The Frogs”, which started the third period in 405 B.C., was devoted to literary and dramatic criticism. “Ecclesiazusae” (Women in Parliament) (392 B.C.) was a satire on communistic ideas of the time. The local character of the plays of the first period had by the third period given way to an internationalism that marks Aristophanes as the transition-link between what is termed “Old Comedy,” “Middle,” and “New Comedy” of Greece.
Shortly after producing “The Plutus” in 388 BC, Aristophanes died. His son, Araros, staged two more of his plays in about 387 BC. Modern critics of Aristophanes’ works have centered their views on the loose construction of plots and the feeble development of characters. However, the construction of satires is hardly ever accommodating to formal literature standards.
Aristophanes’ Plays (timeline)
Acharnians - 425 BC
Knights - 424 BC
Clouds - 423 BC
Wasps - 422 BC
Peace - 421 BC
Birds - 414 BC
Lysistrata - 411 BC
Women at the Thesmophoria - 411 BC
Frogs - 405 BC
Women at the Ecclesia - 392 BC
Wealth (also known as The Plutus) - 388 BC
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Here's to the English 115 class of ULL :)
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He is so funny! I had to do a report on him for school, and had to learn about the gov't of the time too. So if you really understand what it was like back then, then you appriciate the plays so much more.
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Not enough information on Aristophanes. I need to know more about his life.
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Your site does not have enough information. Get more.
From: someone smarter then you
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My teacher is fat and making me do this project
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Hey, Anonymous - you are fat and ugly
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your ugly.......and you can't read good!!!!
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this site sucks, it doesn't tell me anything
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i have lost my slipper
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i have lost my sipper
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can you help me find it
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don't worry, i found it. now where's the first one again?
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those stupid old timers use to complicted of words to understand them properly
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