Year of birth: 450 B.c. death year: 385 Bce Aristophanes was born 450 BC (approximately) in demo assets of Cidatene. Little is known about his life: the only news of which we possess today are derived from his plays. Aristophanes is in fact the greatest exponent of ancient comedy. In 427 he debuted very young with "Into", although acting as an instructor of the choir on this occasion is not the poet, how would I set the tradition, but Callistrato. "Into" is the first play by Aristophanes (written in years when Athens is engaged in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta, in a fight aimed to preserve the hegemony over Greece): talking remains today a few fragments, from which it is evident that the theme is the clash and the relationship between paideia and the new culture, with consequent changes in mentality. The second comedy of Aristophanes is staged in 426: it's called "Babylonians", and even today remain few testimonials. We only know that, in it, there are allegations of corruption and embezzlement of the allies turned to the demagogue Cleon. At 425 date from the "Acharnians", his third comedy: the first that has survived: while the war is now the sixth year, Aristophanes in his work speaks of peace desired by the Athenians, exacerbated by economic collapse in the city, due to its exclusion from the trade routes and crops destroyed: now it can rely solely on Allied tributes. The author emphasizes, therefore, the sufferings of war, urging the audience: a comic Hero (in this case a social class most ravaged by war, i.e. a farmer) denouncing the absurdity of the conflict and complicating the lives of citizens. Criticism from Aristophanes the Athenian democracy (Diceopoli, the protagonist, concluding a separate peace with the Spartans, on its own behalf, to show to his fellow citizens the benefits of a return to normal) are also expressed in the "Knights", comedy staged in 424. In opera, the demagogue Cleon is called Paphlagonus (a barbarous name): he, instead of serving the people, steals behind him, in spite of the opposition of the Knights, the wealthiest class. In 423 the playwright greco represents the "Clouds", arguably his best known work: you staged the detrimental effect that the sophistic earned Athenian democracy through the narration of the story of Strepsiades, who sends his son to study from Socrates to learn how not to pay off debts that has contracted. The clouds, however, do not get a positive response: Aristophanes talking makes up a second version (the one sent to us) but is never staged. The 422 ascend the "Wasps", which explores the relationship between old and new generation, but also between people and demagogues. Aristophanes rails against the legal system of Athens and in particular against misuse that demagogues make: the associate judges, thirsty of justicialism and power, are exploited and purchased by those who are really powerful. The following year the playwright working on "Peace", comedy represented in 421: protagonist is Trigeo, a farmer, who flew on a winged scarab wants to dig up the peace. In 414 is the turn of "Birds": two Athenians, Euelpides and Pisetero, that failing to find a city where people can live in peace are choosing to found Nubicuculia, a bird town nestled among the clouds. The 411 back instead, two comedies inspired by women. Featuring fantasy and irony, "Thesmophoriazusae" the Thesmophoria, a Festival dedicated to women, and they fight with the analysis of the female characters created by Euripides in his tragedy, private and individual psychologies problems-according to distract the Viewer from political events, Aristophanes-most important. Even in the "Lysistrata" is about a woman, who, to fight the war, proposes a sexual strike involving wives in all of Greece. In "the Ecclesiazousae" (meaning "women in Parliament"), the author proposes a utopia: a woman dressed as a man, Praxagoras, enters the House and manages to push through the passage of Government to women as the sole means of salvation for the city. The "Pluto", finally, is the last work of Aristophanes: you talk about the incorrect distribution of wealth among men. Cremilo, the protagonist, welcomes home a blind man (actually the God Pluto in disguise) that returns the view so that wealth can be awarded according to merit. Aristophanes dies around 385 BC
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