Read this if you…
- want the oldest political satirical comedy
- want to see an ancient comedian do an anti-war crusade
Skip this if you…
- haven't read Lysistrata or Clouds or Frogs to decide if you even like Aristophanes
Why It Matters
Aristophanes wrote the first great anti-war comedy: a farmer cuts his own private peace treaty with Sparta while Athens keeps fighting. It set the template for comedy as political protest and proved humor could be a real weapon against wartime propaganda. The play won first prize at the Lenaia festival in 425 BC.
The 
Take
His first play, very funny to see how hard he pushes for peace and how comedians fighting against the politicians. Hilarious display of the peace for just that one guy
The lineage through The Acharnians
- The Histories by Herodotus. The Acharnians built on it. - Dikaiopolis's big speech is a direct send-up of the proem to Herodotus's *Histories* - Where Herodotus blames the war between Greeks and Persians on abducted women — Io, Europa, Medea, Helen — Aristophanes blames the Peloponnesian War on a stolen prostitute and two of Aspasia's girls - The joke only fully lands if you've read the solemn original it's mocking — go meet Herodotus first
Depicted in Art
Engraved portrait of the comic poet Aristophanes
Pieter van Senus
Engraved marble bust of the comic poet Aristophanes
Recommended Editions
Jeffrey Henderson
Harvard University Press · 1998
Henderson's Loeb doesn't sanitize the dick jokes or the partisan bile, which matters because the Acharnians is Aristophanes calling Cleon out by name. Facing-page Greek, generous notes on what every Athenian in the audience would have caught.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“Comedy too can sometimes discern what is right. I shall not please, but I shall say what is true.”
“Open up, open up! I need some rags from your old plays — the really pathetic ones.”
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