Aristophanes and Alcibiades : Echoes of Contemporary History in Athenian Comedy

The conventional view of Aristophanes bristles with problems. Important testimony for Alcibiades’ paramount role in comedy is consistently disregarded, and the tradition that “masks were made to look like the __komodoumenoi__, so that before an actor spoke a word, the audience would recognize who was being attacked” is hardly ever invoked. If these testimonia are taken into account, a fascinating picture emerges, where the __komodoumenoi__ are based on the Periclean household: older characters on Pericles himself, younger on Alcibiades. Aspasia, Pericles’ mistress, and Hipparete, Alcibiades’ wife, lie behind many female characters, and Alcibiades’ ambiguous sexuality also allows him to be shown on the stage as a woman, notably as Lysistrata. There is a substantial overlap between the anecdotal tradition relating to the historical figures and the plotting of Aristophanes’ plays. This extends to speech patterns, where Alcibiades’ speech defect is lampooned. Aristophanes is consistently critical of Alcibiades’ mercurial politics, and his works can also be seen to have served as an aide-mémoire for Thucydides and Xenophon. If the argument presented here is correct, then much current scholarship on Aristophanes can be set aside. Contents 7 Preface 11 Abbreviations 21 Chapter 1 23 Political Allegory in Aristophanes 23 “Emphasis” 23 Alcibiades’ Violence 25 Alcibiades’ Speech Defect; Legal Constraints on Comedy 26 The ??μ?d??μe??? 28 The Problem with Political Allegory 32 Ambiguity in Greece 34 Aristophanes’ Sophisticated Audience 36 Polymorphic Characterization 38 Chapter 2 41 Wordplay; Pericles, Alcibiades and Aspasia on Stage 41 Wordplay, History and Ambiguity 41 Alcibiades and Pericles 43 Pericles’ Reputation 46 Aristophanes and Politics 49 The Text of Aristophanes 53 Chapter 3 55 Pericles (and Alcibiades) on Stage: The Story So Far 55 Acharnians (425 BC) 55 Knights (424 BC) 56 Clouds (423 BC) 57 Wasps (422 BC) 59 Peace (421 BC) 59 Birds (414 BC) 60 Chapter 4 64 The Tragic Context: the Case of Euripides’ Ion 64 Euripides Ion 68 Ion and Alcibiades 70 Sophocles Ajax and Alcibiades 75 Pericles and Delphi 76 Aspasia the Ionian 78 Chapter 5 80 Happy Families: Plutus i 80 The ??μ?d??μe??? 81 The Opening Scene 87 Wealth Declares Himself 89 Chapter 6 96 Home Economics: Plutus ii 96 Poverty 98 The Visit to Asclepius 100 The Honest Man and the Sycophant 103 Ménage à trois 104 Hermes and the Priest of Zeus 107 The Finale 109 Chapter 7 111 “The Woman of Old”: Euripides’ Helen and Andromeda 111 Chronology 112 “Archipiada” 114 Egypt 116 Love, Honour and Beauty 117 Theonoe, Piety and Purification; Teucer 120 Menelaus 121 Theoclymenus 124 The Second Stasimon 126 Shaving, Sacrifice and Sobriety 127 Andromeda 129 Chapter 8 131 “Alcibiades is a Woman’s Man”: Lysistrata 131 Alcibiades and Samos 133 Caryatids and Tyranny 135 The Opening Scene of Lysistrata 137 Lysistrata’s masculine characterization 141 Lampito 142 Generals at Samos 144 Cinesias and Myrrhine 147 Chapter 9 151 Alcibiades in Gaol: Thesmophoriazusae 151 The Date of the Play 151 The dramatis personae 153 (i) The Kinsman 153 (ii) Euripides 154 (iii) Agathon 156 (iv) The Scythian Archer 157 The Interview with Agathon 158 The Festival, etc 162 Palamedes, Helen and Andromeda 165 Thucydides’ End 168 Chapter 10 171 Frogs: Nothing to Do With Literature 171 Dionysus’ Question 171 Lions in the State and Aeschylus 172 Losing Little Oiljars 175 Exiles and Euripides 176 Dionysus, Xanthias, Heracles 179 Why Does Aeschylus Win? 182 Chapter 11 185 Aspasia on Stage: Ecclesiazusae 185 Aspasia in the Fourth Century 185 Polymorphic Characterization 188 Pericles, Alcibiades 189 Aspasia, Alcibiades and Hipparete 192 Speaking Names 197 Hipparete, Aspasia and Alcibiades 198 Aspasia, Plato and Aristotle 199 Conclusion 202 Appendix 1 207 Alcibiades’ “Servile Birth”, Alcibiades’ “Matrophilia”: Inventions of the Stage? 207 “He loved his mother” 208 Servile Origins 213 Aspasia Again 216 Clever Slaves 217 Appendix 2 218 The Athenian Plague of 430–428 BC 218 Appendix 3 223 Keith Sidwell’s Aristophanes the Democrat 223 Bibliography 224 Index Locorum 246 General Index 257

The conventional view of Aristophanes bristles with problems. Important testimony for Alcibiades’ paramount role in comedy is consistently disregarded, and the tradition that “masks were made to look like the komodoumenoi, so that before an actor spoke a word, the audience would recognize who was being attacked” is hardly ever invoked. If these testimonia are taken into account, a fascinating picture emerges, where the komodoumenoi are based on the Periclean household: older characters on Pericles himself, younger on Alcibiades. Aspasia, Pericles’ mistress, and Hipparete, Alcibiades’ wife, lie behind many female characters, and Alcibiades’ ambiguous sexuality also allows him to be shown on the stage as a woman, notably as Lysistrata. There is a substantial overlap between the anecdotal tradition relating to the historical figures and the plotting of Aristophanes’ plays. This extends to speech patterns, where Alcibiades’ speech defect is lampooned. Aristophanes is consistently critical of Alcibiades’ mercurial politics, and his works can also be seen to have served as an aide-mémoire for Thucydides and Xenophon. If the argument presented here is correct, then much current scholarship on Aristophanes can be set aside.

"This study of Aristophanes provides the basis for a total re-assessment not only of Aristophanes as a poet and playwright, but also of our perception of politics and the role of the theatre in classical Athens. It shows how Aristophanes used allegorical means to comment on the day-to-day political concerns of Athenians, in particular the problems presented by the gradual emergence of Alcibiades as one of the most powerful figures in the state."-- Provided by publisher