Old Comedy in Classical Athens

Old Comedy flourished in classical Athens and is best represented by Aristophanes. It combined songs, masks, wild fantasy, direct political satire, jokes about public figures and criticism of war, gender relations, courts and intellectual fashions.

The genre matters because it gives a comic counterpoint to tragedy and history. It shows Athenian democracy talking to itself through abuse, festival licence and theatrical invention.

The setting is particularly well suited to Aristophanes collections and for books about Athens during the Peloponnesian War, civic comedy and public performance.