Aristophanes
Master of Athenian Old Comedy whose plays satirised politics, philosophy, and fellow playwrights
The Meaning of Aristophanes
Aristophanes (c. 446-386 BCE) was the greatest poet of Athenian Old Comedy, of whose work eleven complete plays survive — the only substantial remains of the genre. His comedies are extravagant, obscene, fantastical, and politically fearless: in The Clouds he mocks Socrates, in The Wasps the Athenian jury system, in The Birds the city's imperial ambitions, in Lysistrata women who end war through a sex strike, and in The Frogs Dionysus himself journeys to Hades to judge between Aeschylus and Euripides. Aristophanes wielded comedy as a weapon of democratic free speech, attacking demagogues like Cleon by name. His plays are the richest surviving source for the texture of everyday Athenian life, language, and popular opinion.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Aristophanes named and mocked living Athenian politicians on stage — including the powerful Cleon — by name
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Clouds
💭 conceptLiterature
Aristophanes' comedy satirising Socrates and the sophistic movement in fifth-century Athens
Frogs
💭 conceptLiterature
Aristophanes' comedy in which Dionysus journeys to Hades to bring back a great tragic poet
Comedy
💭 conceptLanguage and drama
An English word for a humorous dramatic work, derived from the Greek komodia meaning "revel song," from the drunken processions honouring Dionysus
Lenaia
💭 conceptfestival, comedy
A winter festival of Dionysus in Athens featuring comic and tragic performances in a more intimate setting than the great City Dionysia.
Birds
💭 conceptLiterature
Aristophanes' comedy in which two Athenians found a utopian city in the sky among the birds
Lysistrata
💭 conceptLiterature
Aristophanes' comedy in which the women of Greece withhold intimacy to force their men to end the Peloponnesian War
Nonnus
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Dionysus
Late antique poet who composed the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving epic poem from Greco-Roman antiquity
Aeschylus
💭 conceptTragedy, justice, divine law
Father of Greek tragedy who introduced the second actor and composed the Oresteia trilogy
Euripides
💭 conceptTragedy, psychology, women
Radical Athenian tragedian who explored human psychology and gave voice to women and outsiders
Iliad
💭 conceptLiterature
Homer's epic poem recounting the wrath of Achilles during the final year of the Trojan War
Xenophon
💭 conceptHistory, philosophy, horsemanship
Athenian soldier-writer whose works preserve mythological allusions within practical and philosophical contexts
Republic
💭 conceptLiterature
Plato's philosophical dialogue exploring justice, the ideal state, and the nature of the soul