Artistophanes the Father of Comedy
By Alina Haque
WHO IS HE?
Artistophanes is one of the first comedians of ancient history as we know it. Artistophanes lived in the comedic time period of Old Comedy. He was a playwright, director, poet and a notable quote giver. Artitophanes lived in Ancient Greece from c. 446 BC – c. 386 BC.He is the inspiration for many people today in the world of comedy.
ARTISTOPHANES AND EVENTS
When Aristophanes' first play The Banqueters was produced, Athens was an ambitious, imperial power and The Peloponnesian War was only in its fourth year. His plays often express pride in the achievement of the older generation (the victors at Marathon) yet they are not jingoistic and they are staunchly opposed to the war with Sparta. The plays are particularly scathing in criticism of war profiteers, among whom populists such as Cleon figure prominently. By the time his last play was produced (around 386 BC) 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. Aristophanes was part of this transformation and he shared in the intellectual fashions of the period — the structure of his plays evolves from Old Comedy until, in his last surviving play, Wealth II, it more closely resembles New Comedy. However it is uncertain whether he led or merely responded to changes in audience expectations.
THE PRINCE OF COMEDY LIVES IN HIS PLAYS
The works of Artistophanes live through the ages but only eleven out of the original forty plays still exist:
- The Acharnians, 425 BC
- The Knights 424 BC
- The Clouds 423 BC
- The Wasps 422 BC
- Peace 421 BC
- The Birds 414 BC
- Lysistrata 411 BC
- Thesmophoriazusae 411 BC
- The Frogs 405 BC
- Ecclesiazusae c. 392 BC
- Wealth II 388 BC