ABSTRACT
This chapter explains what the author believes to have been the nature of the relationship between Aristophanes and the producer of his earliest plays, Kallistratos. Kallistratos was not just to give his name to a production for which all or most of the work was in practice done by Aristophanes; it was to do 'the most difficult task of all'. The nautical metaphor, with its progression from oarsman to prow-officer to helmsman, indicates that Aristophanes did not take over this task all at once, but by stages. For Mastromarco and Halliwell, there were three stages: in the years before 427, Aristophanes contributed comic material to plays by other authors; in the years 427-5, Aristophanes wrote whole plays but still did not undertake their production; and in 424 for the first time he both wrote and produced a play (Knights) himself.
