Knights: Political Satire

Tsoumpra, Natalia (2024). Knights: Political Satire. In: Farmer, Matthew C. and Lefkowitz, Jeremy B. eds. A Companion to Aristophanes. Wiley, pp. 107–126.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119622963.ch8

Abstract

Eleven of Aristophanes’ comedies survive intact. The Companion to Aristophanes features one chapter focused on each play and pairs it with an issue or theme in Aristophanes’ plays that is exemplified by that comedy. This chapter examines Aristophanes’ Knights , in which a Sausage Seller competes with a comic version of the politician Cleon for dominance in the city of Athens, here represented as the household of the old man “Demos” (The People). The chapter pairs a reading of the play itself with a survey of the theme of political satire and ad hominem invective across Aristophanes’ comedies.

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