A companion to Aristophanes

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[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review]

As the Editors note in the Introduction to the volume, while Greek Comedy has been the focus of several companions in the last decades, Aristophanes himself had surprisingly been companionless until now.[1] A Companion to Aristophanes is thus a needed and welcome publication, which addresses the lack of a comprehensive entry point to the study of Aristophanes. In the Introduction the Editors programmatically declare their twofold aim of equipping even beginners with the essential knowledge and instruments necessary to appreciate Aristophanes’ art while also opening up new avenues for engaging with his plays in original ways. A Companion to Aristophanes brilliantly achieves these aims. The Editors’ choice of ensuring diversity in the selection of contributors actively favours these outcomes by offering fresh perspectives on a wide range of topics. The international breadth of the volume, which is also reflected in the bibliographical references, is another welcome effect of the Editors’ attention in the selection process.

The volume is divided into five sections which encapsulate the different targets and perspectives envisioned by the Editors. Part I, The World of Aristophanes, provides the background information for the following sections, with chapters illustrating technical aspects of Aristophanes’ poetry mainly connected to its performance, as well as broader issues such as its relationship with contemporary history and politics. Lateiner and Munson open this section by summarising the historical background of the plays. Rather than attempting to “determine the nature of Aristophanes’ overall “political ideology””, they wisely choose to examine “how the political message of his plays varies over time as it negotiates historical events, public opinion, and Aristophanes’ own status in Athenian society”. To do so, they provide a sketch of the different phases of Athenian history, highlighting the ways in which Aristophanes’ plays relate to their context. A.C. Duncan’s chapter a brief introduction to material aspects of the fifth-century theatre and staging, followed by a stimulating example of a new materialist study of Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazousae which illustrates how fruitful this approach can be when applied to Aristophanes’ comedy. In the first part of this chapter, it would have been useful perhaps to give a sense of the debate about the dimension and capacity of the theatre, considering that the figure of 15.000 spectators given in Stephanie Nelson’s chapter is hardly reconcilable with the evidence of a much smaller theatre in its fifth-century version.[2] Edith Hall closes the section in Ringkomposition with Lateiner and Munson’s chapter, providing a complementary overview of the relationship between Aristophanes’ plays and contemporary politics; while Lateiner and Munson start from the historical context and show how it reflected upon the plays, Hall goes the opposite direction, examining how each play develops certain political themes and attitudes. After this overview, Hall makes the point that the superpowers that characterise Aristophanic heroes reflect the extraordinary political power of the Athenian demos.

Part II consists of eleven contributions that cover Aristophanes’ surviving plays in chronological order, coupling each comedy with a specific theme which allows the authors to also engage with other plays. In her opening contribution on Acharnians and tragedy, Nelson contends that the play’s dialogue with tragedy and epic spotlights essential contradictions in the play which reflect the tensions present in the polis; for instance, the parody of Euripides’ Telephus has a political bearing insofar as it signals a tension between Homeric and democratic values. Political satire is the main thematic lens in Natalia Tsoumpra’s chapter on Knights, which touches upon several key themes in the play (such as the corruption of politicians, class and low origins, the functions of aggressive humour), providing a rich overview of the scholarly debate and advancing her own interpretation. In particular, Tsoumpra suggests that Knights should be read as a criticism of democracy and that, rather than being subversive, comic humour might have the function of maintaining contemporary social norms. Olimpia Imperio provides a study of Clouds, skilfully addressing matters of performance and the question of the double version of the play. By considering the role of intellectuals and philosophy in comedy, she shows that the character of Socrates in the play represents the Athenians’ opinions of the new intellectuals more than the historical Socrates. Nikoletta Kanavou’s chapter examines Wasps from the viewpoint of law and rhetoric, paying attention to political aspects too: according to her, Wasps does not subvert democracy and the primary aim of the play was entertainment rather than education. In her contribution on Peace, focused on the theme of peace and war, Elena Fabbro investigates the various forms of conflict (of lack thereof) that characterise the play, helpfully comparing it with other plays, for instance by highlighting the similarities between the comic hero Trygaeus and Lysistrata. Birds and utopia are the topic of the essay written by the late David Konstan, who sadly passed away two months after the publication of this volume. Konstan’s chapter draws a topology of the different kinds of utopia and considers other plays as further examples of comic utopias. Anna Novokhatko’s chapter on metaphor and allegory in Frogs is an inspiring presentation of metaphor studies as a methodological framework. Arguing that death is a powerful source of metaphors and allegories in the Frogs, Novokhatko highlights the subversive power of comedy even with regard to the theme of death, with the Underworld being paradoxically represented as bustling with life.

Part III, The fragments of Greek Comedy, deals with the hidden part of the iceberg of which Aristophanes’ preserved plays are merely the tip: by drawing on fragments and testimonies, the chapters in this section shed light on Aristophanes’ lost plays (Christian Orth), and his predecessors’ (Serena Perrone), contemporaries’ (Sarah Miles), and successors’ (Anna Uhlig) production. Together, these chapters are a precious guide to the “culture of comedy” (Miles) within which Aristophanes’ poetry developed. This section thus fulfils the editorial promise made in the Introduction to contextualise Aristophanes within the wider picture of ancient Greek comedy. This attention also surfaces in the other sections, for instance with Stephen Kidd’s chapter in Part I on Aristophanes’ style and language, which are evaluated by contrasting them with those of other poets, or Ralph Rosen’s chapter on Aristophanes’ Wealth, which, as the author underscores, should not necessarily be interpreted as a topical answer to specific socio-economic imbalances, given the established tradition of plays dealing with similar themes.

Part IV, Aristophanes and His Readers, collects helpful and learned essays on the evaluation and reception of Aristophanes from Antiquity to the modern period. Particularly instructive in this part is the journey traced by Malika Bastin-Hammou of Aristophanes’ plays in the Renaissance and the Early Modern Period. As this chapter reveal, Aristophanes’ texts have been made to wear different costumes, often in the attempt to moralise them. Contrary to what one might imagine, the modifying filters imposed on Aristophanes did not become lighter with the passing of time, reminding us that cultural awareness does not proceed according to a linear progress. In general, this part also contributes to the editorial line of contextualising Aristophanes, showing how its transmission and interpretation were affected by circumstances and emphasising the fragility and arbitrariness of cultural preservation. Finally, Part V, Aristophanes Today, deals with two vital dimensions in keeping Aristophanes’ creation alive, the theatre and the classroom. Philip Walsh and Elizabeth Scharffenberger cover each in turn, both drawing on practical case studies for performing and teaching his plays.

Despite the variety of topics and perspectives, the volume leaves the reader with an impression of unity. The dual focus of the chapters in Part II effectively broadens the scope of the analyses and fosters cohesion between the chapters and Parts. Some themes emerge repeatedly throughout the Companion; for instance, comedy’s relationship with tragedy is the theme of Nelson’s contribution on Acharnians, but is also dealt with by Helene Foley in her chapter on Women at the Thesmophoria, whose theme is religion and ritual, as well as by Orth and Miles in their discussion of other comic poets’ relationship to tragedy. Attention to political implications of the comedies and their relationship with the historical context is among the most recurrent threads throughout the volume: as mentioned above, it was a prominent theme in Lateiner and Munson’s and Hall’s chapters in Part I, and Nelson’s, Tsoumpra’s, and Kanavou’s contributions in Part II. The renewed interest in the relationship between comedy and politics is confirmed also by recent publications within Aristophanic scholarship.[3] In general, the contributions to the Companion manage to consider this long-debated issue in a fresh way, going beyond the question of Aristophanes’ own political views and agenda.

Overall, this is undoubtedly an excellent companion, which will prove helpful to anyone approaching Aristophanes as well as to scholars of Aristophanes who want to explore different themes or methodologies. Most contributions succeed in summarising the state of the art on each theme, while also supporting specific ideas or interpretations; the sections on further reading generally offer very good bibliographical directions. Several chapters also introduce innovative methodological frameworks, which give a sense of the frontiers of classical scholarship more generally (see e.g. queer studies in Gilhuly’s interpretation of the connection between sexuality and temporality in Lysistrata, new materialism in Duncan’s chapter, and cognitive studies in Novochatko’s investigation of metaphor in Frogs). The volume has thus the potential of inspiring original research on Aristophanes. A more careful editing occasionally and greater homogeneity in some respects (e.g. having homogenous transliteration standards and opting for footnotes in all chapters, rather than letting authors oscillate between in-text references and footnotes) would have increased the readability of the volume. In the Introduction, the editors wonder about Aristophanes’ reaction to the lack of a companion to his works. In all likelihood he would have been thrilled about being honoured with this Companion, which appropriately captures the multi-layered complexity of his poetry.

Authors and titles

Introduction (Matthew C. Farmer, Jeremy B. Lefkowitz)

Part I: The World of Aristophanes

1. Aristophanes Among Athenians (Donald Lateiner, Rosaria Munson)
2. The Staging of Old Comedy (A.C. Duncan)
3. Meter and Song (Anne Mahoney)
4. Style, Language, and Obscenity (Stephen E. Kidd)
5. Images of Greek Comedy (Carl A. Shaw)
6. Politics and Aristophanic Comedy (Edith Hall)

Part II: The Comedies of Aristophanes

7. Acharnians: Tragedy and Epic (Stephanie Nelson)
8. Knights: Political Satire (Natalia Tsoumpra)
9. Clouds: Intellectuals and Philosophy (Olimpia Imperio)
10. Wasps: Rhetoric and the Law (Nikoletta Kanavou)
11. Peace: War (Elena Fabbro)
12. Birds: Utopia (David Konstan)
13. Lysistrata: Sexuality (Kate Gilhuly)
14. Women at the Thesmophoria: Religion and Ritual (Helene P. Foley)
15. Frogs: Metaphor and Allegory (Anna A. Novokhatko)
16. Assemblywomen: Gender (Gwendolyn Compton-Engle)
17. Wealth: Economic Fantasies (Ralph M. Rosen)

Part III: The Fragments of Greek Comedy

18. Aristophanes’ Lost Plays (Christian Orth)
19. Aristophanes’ Predecessors (Serena Perrone)
20. Aristophanes’ Contemporaries (Sarah N. Miles)
21. Aristophanes’ Successors (Anna Uhlig)

Part IV: Aristophanes and His Readers

22. Aristophanes Between Plato and Aristotle (Pierre Destrée)
23. Ancient Scholarship on Aristophanes (Andreas Willi)
24. Aristophanes in Roman Literature (Jennifer L. Ferriss-Hill)
25. Aristophanes and the Second Sophistic (Inger N.I. Kuin)
26. Renaissance and Early Modern Reception of Aristophanes (Malika Bastin-Hammou)

Part V: Aristophanes Today

27. Performing Aristophanes (Philip Walsh)
28. Teaching Aristophanes (Elizabeth Scharffenberger)

Notes

[1] While not a companion, it is however worth mentioning Robson, J. (2009), Aristophanes: An Introduction, London: A&C Black.

[2] See e.g. Dawson, S. (1997), ‘The theatrical audience in fifth-century Athens: numbers and status’, Prudentia, 29(1), 1–14; Papastamati-von Moock, C. (2015), ‘The Wooden Theatre of Dionysos’, in R. Frederiksen, E. R. Gebhard, & A. Sokolicek, eds., The Architecture of the Ancient Greek Theatre, Aarhus: Aarhus Universitetsforlag.

[3] See e.g. Mhire, J. J., & Frost, B.-P. (2014), The Political Theory of Aristophanes: Explorations in Poetic Wisdom, Albany: State University of New York Press; Rosen, R. M., & Foley, H. P. (Eds.). (2020). Aristophanes and Politics: New Studies, Boston: Brill; Güthenke, C., & Gartland, S. (2025). Aristophanes and the Current Moment: The Politics of Comedy, Bloomsbury Publishing.