Aristophanes
Ancient Athenian satirist
Aristophanes was an ancient Greek playwright of the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the foremost writer of Old Comedy.
His surviving works—including *The Clouds*, *The Birds*, *Lysistrata*, and *The Frogs*—are bawdy, satirical, and politically pointed, mocking Athenian politicians, philosophers, and fellow playwrights.
He remains the only Old Comedy playwright whose complete plays survive.
Work meant to amuse
- satireMockery exposing vice
- Old ComedyAncient Greek satirical theater
- PeaceState without conflict
- PhilemonBrief apostolic correspondence
Satirical imitation
- lampoonHarsh public mockery
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
- caricatureExaggerated comic depiction
invective · irony · burlesque · wit · sarcasm · demagogue · politicians · sophists
Singers performing together
- maskFace-worn concealment
- costumeClothing for portrayal
- stageRaised performance platform
- orchestraLarge instrumental ensemble
skene · Dionysus · festival · performance · audience · actor · spectacle · theatron
comedy
Work meant to amuse
- satireMockery exposing vice
- Old ComedyAncient Greek satirical theater
- PeaceState without conflict
parody
Satirical imitation
- lampoonHarsh public mockery
- mockeryScornful ridicule or travesty
- ridiculeContemptuous mocking treatment
caricature · invective · irony · burlesque · wit · sarcasm · demagogue · politicians · sophists · philosophers
chorus
Singers performing together
orchestra · skene · Dionysus · festival · performance · audience · actor · spectacle · theatron · competition
Athens
Greece's capital city
Peloponnesian · Pericles · Socrates · Plato · Sophocles · Euripides · Aeschylus · Hellenic · archon · deme
war
Armed struggle between groups
education · wealth · poverty · generational conflict · utopia · fantasy · metamorphosis · animals · gods · underworld
- Ancient PlaywrightsAeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Terence, Seneca
- classicsHomer, Iliad, the Iliad, Odyssey, the Odyssey
- ancient GreeceAthens, Sparta, Zeus, Parthenon, Acropolis
- Ancient GreekGreek alphabet, Greek vocabulary, ancient Greek, Homer, Plato
- greek literature topicsHomer, Iliad, Odyssey, Aesop, fables
- Greek TheaterGreek tragedy, tragedy, Greek drama, comedy, Sophocles
AristophanesSophocles
Classical Athenian playwright
Euripides · Aeschylus · tragedian · Greek tragedy · Seneca
epiphany, phantom, phenomenon, aristocracy, aristocrat, aristocratic, phantasm