Aristophanes: Peace

Aristophanes' Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 BC as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson's edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer's of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, butit focuses in particular on the realities of day-to-day life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes' early career,the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet's theology.

“'This edition will prompt fresh interest in a play that has been comparatively neglected - undestervedly, as it now seems.'Jeffrey Henderson, Religious Studies Review, Vol.26, No.3.”

O.'s commentary, while it shows fine all-round scholarship, ... is particularly strong on economic and social matters'Alan Sommerstein, Journal of Hellenic StudiesThis edition will prompt fresh interest in a play that has been comparatively neglected - undestervedly, as it now seems.'Jeffrey Henderson, Religious Studies Review, Vol.26, No.3.`the Greek text is masterfully edited and for the first time based on a complete recension of the manuscripts; the comentary is richly informative on everything from the play's dramatic form and technique to its social and policital contexts.'Jeffrey Henderson, Religious Studies Review, Vol.26, No.3.

ARISTOPHANES, the most famous comic dramatist of ancient Greece, was born an Athenian citizen in about 445 B.C. Forty-four plays have been attributed to Aristophanes; eleven of these have survived. His plays are the only extant representatives of Greek Old Comedy, a dramatic form whose conventions made it inevitable that the author would comment on the political and social issues of fifth-century Athens. This Aristophanes did so well that Plato, asked by the tyrant of Syracuse for an analysis of Athenians, sent a copy of Aristophanes' plays in reply.<br>&#160;&#160;&#160;&amp

Aristophanes' Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 BC as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson's edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer's of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, but it focuses in particular on the realities of day-to-day life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes' early career, the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet's theology.

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