ABSTRACT
Aristophanes was judged in antiquity to be the foremost poet of the “old” Attic (or Athenian) comedy, of which he was one of the last practitioners and of which his eleven surviving plays are our only complete examples. Aside from his theatrical career little is known about his life. He was born c. 447/46, the son of one Philippos of the urban deme1 Kydathenaion, and died probably between 386 and 380. By his twenties his hair had thinned or receded enough that he could be called bald. He seems to have had landholdings on, or some other connection with, the island of Aigina. He was twice prosecuted by the popular leader Kleon for the political impropriety of two of his plays, but he was never convicted (see II, below). Early in the fourth century he served as one of his deme’s representatives on the Council of 500, a representative body that steered and supervised the agenda for the sovereign assembly. He had two sons, Araros and Philippos, both of whom had careers as comic poets in the mid-fourth century. In his dialogue Symposium Plato portrays Aristophanes as being at home among the social and intellectual elite of Athens. Although the historical veracity of Plato’s portrayal is uncertain, Aristophanes’ plays generally do champion the social and political views of contemporary upperclass, landowning conservatives, insofar as these could be portrayed as serving the interests of the citizen populace at large.
