Aristophanes

This great writer of Old Comedy is famous for a number of reasons.

First of all, his Old Comedies are the only complete plays which survive of all those written. (11 plays of all the plays written by various authors.)

Second, in his plays he commented on the tragedies and tragic playwrights of his time. This literary criticism is among the little that exists concerning play practices of the 5th Century.

Surviving plays are: "The Archanians," "The Birds," "The Clouds," "Ecclesiazusae," "The Frogs," "The Knights," "Lysistrata," "Peace," "Plutus," "Thesmophoriazusae," and "The Wasps."

The versions of "The Clouds" and "Plutus" are considered second versions of those works.

Aristophanes began by writing under a friend's name. As "Callistratus" he wrote "The Banqueters," "The Babylonians," and "The Archanains."

He continued to do this later in his career with "The Birds" and "Lysistrata," two of his most famous works which he attributed original to Callistratus. "The Wasps," "Amphiaraus," and "The Frogs," were presented as the works of Philonides, another friend.

Finally, he allowed his son Araros to take credit for his last two plays in order that the young man might have a creditable debut. (The latter went on to write several plays, as did two other sons of Aristophanes.)

Interesting facts: Aristophanes has written some wonderful comedies which are highly recommended. "Lysistrata" concerns the women of Athens, who decide to deny their husbands sexual favors until the latter agree to stop fighting a war.

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