Aristophanes (446- 386 BC)

Aristophanes (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˌærᵻˈstɒfəniːz/</a> or <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_English" title="Help:IPA for English">/ˌɛrᵻˈstɒfəniːz/</a>;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-2">[2]</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language" title="Greek language">Greek</a>: Ἀριστοφάνης, pronounced <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Greek" title="Help:IPA for Greek">[aristopʰánɛːs]</a>; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deme" title="Deme">deme</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kydathenaion" title="Kydathenaion">Kydathenaion</a> (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_language" class="mw-redirect" title="Latin language">Latin</a>: Cydathenaeum),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-3">[3]</a> was a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comedy" title="Comedy">comic</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playwright" title="Playwright">playwright</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Athens" title="Classical Athens">ancient Athens</a>. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These, together with fragments of some of his other plays, provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_comedy" title="Ancient Greek comedy">Old Comedy</a>, and are used to define it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-4">[4]</a>

Also known as the Father of Comedy<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-5">[5]</a> and the Prince of Ancient Comedy,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-6">[6]</a> Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-7">[7]</a> His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plato" title="Plato">Plato</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-8">[8]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-9">[9]</a> singled out Aristophanes' play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clouds" title="The Clouds">The Clouds</a> as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slander" class="mw-redirect" title="Slander">slander</a> that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates" title="Socrates">Socrates</a> although other <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socrates#Satirical_playwrights" title="Socrates">satirical playwrights</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-10">[10]</a> had also caricatured the philosopher.

His second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by the demagogue <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleon" title="Cleon">Cleon</a> as a slander against the Athenian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polis" title="Polis">polis</a>. It is possible that the case was argued in court but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Knights" title="The Knights">The Knights</a>, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through the Chorus in that play, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all." (κωμῳδοδιδασκαλίαν εἶναι χαλεπώτατον ἔργον ἁπάντων)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristophanes#cite_note-11">[11]</a>

Aristophanes (446- 386 BC)

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