Aristophanes Acharnians

Aristophanes' Acharnians was performed at the Lenaia festival in Athens in 425 BCE. The play is the story of an old peasant farmer, Dikaiopolis, who has grown so disgusted with the Peloponnesian War and the patent self-serving of the city's leading politicians (abetted by the stupidity of his fellow-citizens) that he concludes a separate peace with the enemy. As a result, he gains access to an immense supply of wonderful things, including wine, eels,thrushes, and a pair of beautiful and compliant women. Whether he is a traitor and a villain, or simply the cleverest and most daring man in the city, is a matter of extensive debate within the play. Acharniansitself, at any rate, took first place and is generally regarded as one of Aristophanes' two or three most brilliant surviving comedies. Olson offers the first complete new scholarly edition of the play in almost a century. The text and apparatus are based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, many of which have never been studied systematically, and are supported by a new manuscript stemma. The Introduction contains sections on the poet himself; the historical setting andpolitical argument of the play; the mythological and literary background; division of parts, costumes, and props; staging; the use of dialects; and the history of the text. The commentary covers a wide rangeof literary, historical, and philological issues, with particular attention to staging and details of everyday life. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated, making much of the edition accessible to general scholarly readers.

“"This edition is everything we could have expected, given the sterling qualities Olson has already shown in his edition ofPeace...and it fully merits the company it keeps in the Clarendon series with, for example, Dover'sCloudsof 1968 and Dunbar'sBirdsof 1995."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review”

Review from previous edition Review from other book by this author (Aristophanes (Peace ) O.'s commentary, while it shows fine all-round scholarship, ... is particularly strong on economic and social matters.'Alan Sommerstein, Journal of Hellenic Studies(Aristophanes (Peace ) This edition will prompt fresh interest in a play that has been comparatively neglected - undeservedly, as it now seems.'Jeffrey Henderson, Religious Studies Review(Aristophanes (Peace ) 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 Reviewexcellent ... impressive coverage of linguistic, historical, and cultural aspects of the play ... a prodigious amount of information and good judgement.'Greece & Rome

S. Douglas Olson is Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota.

Aristophanes' Acharnians was performed at the Lenaia festival in Athens in 425 BCE. The play is the story of an old peasant farmer, Dikaiopolis, who has grown so disgusted with the Peloponnesian War and the patent self-serving of the city's leading politicians (abetted by the stupidity of his fellow-citizens) that he concludes a separate peace with the enemy. As a result, he gains access to an immense supply of wonderful things, including wine, eels, thrushes, and a pair of beautiful and compliant women. Whether he is a traitor and a villain, or simply the cleverest and most daring man in the city, is a matter of extensive debate within the play. Acharnians itself, at any rate, took first place and is generally regarded as one of Aristophanes' two or three most brilliant surviving comedies. Olson offers the first complete new scholarly edition of the play in almost a century. The text and apparatus are based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, many of which have never been studied systematically, and are supported by a new manuscript stemma. The Introduction contains sections on the poet himself; the historical setting and political argument of the play; the mythological and literary background; division of parts, costumes, and props; staging; the use of dialects; and the history of the text. The commentary covers a wide range of literary, historical, and philological issues, with particular attention to staging and details of everyday life. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated, making much of the edition accessible to general scholarly readers.

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