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2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Historical background
had singled Cleon out for special treatment in his previous play The Knights in 424 and there are relatively few
references to him in The Clouds.
Freed from political and war-time issues, Aristophanes
focuses in The Clouds on a broader issue that underlies
many conicts depicted in his plays - the issue of Old
versus New, or the battle of ideas.[9] The scientic speculations of Ionian thinkers such as Thales in the sixth century were becoming commonplace knowledge in Aristophanes time and this had led, for instance, to a growing belief that civilized society was not a gift from the
gods but rather had developed gradually from primitive
mans animal-like existence.[10] Around the time that The
Clouds was produced, Democritus at Abdera was developing an atomistic theory of the cosmos and Hippocrates
at Cos was establishing an empirical and science-like approach to medicine. Anaxagoras, whose works were studied by Socrates, was living in Athens when Aristophanes
was a youth. Anaxagoras enjoyed the patronage of inuential gures such as Pericles, but oligarchic elements
also had political advocates and Anaxagoras was charged
with impiety and expelled from Athens around 437 BC.
The battle of ideas had led to some unlikely friendships that cut across personal and class dierences,
such as between the socially alert Pericles and the unworldly Anaxagoras, and between the handsome aristocrat, Alcibiades, and the ugly plebeian, Socrates. Socrates
moreover had distinguished himself from the crowd by
his heroism in the retreat from the battle of Delium
and this might have further singled him out for ridicule
among his comrades.[11] He was forty-ve years old and
in good physical shape when The Clouds was produced[12]
yet he had a face that lent itself easily to caricature by
mask-makers and possibly that was a contributing reason for the frequent characterization of him by comic
poets.[13] In fact one of the plays that defeated The Clouds
in 423 was called Connus, written by Ameipsias, and
it too lampooned Socrates.[14] There is a famous story,
as reported for example by Aelian, according to which
Socrates cheerfully rose from his seat during the performance of The Clouds and stood in silent answer to the
whispers among foreigners in the festival audience: Who
is Socrates?"[15]
2.1
3
Cynthia or Mount Cynthus: A rocky height on Delos
associated with the cult of Apollo. It is mentioned
by the Clouds in an invocation to Apollo (line 596).
Ephesus: The site of a cult of Artemis (Diana of the
Ephesians) whose devotees included Lydians. Ephesus and the Lydians are mentioned by the Clouds
in an invocation to Artemis (line 598).
Parnassus: A mountain associated with the cult of
Dionysus (as practised by the Maenads) overlooking Delphi, one of the most sacred sites in ancient
Greece. It is mentioned by the Clouds in an invocation to Dionysus (line 603). The mountain is mentioned also in The Frogs[27] and there are references
to the town and people of Delphi in The Wasps and
The Birds.[28]
Thessaly: A region whose women were popularly
associated with witchcraft. Strepsiades thinks of
buying a Thessalian slave who could postpone the
monthly settlement of accounts by bewitching the
moon for him (line 749). Thessaly is mentioned in
three other plays.[29]
Euboia: A long island adjacent to Attica. It had revolted from Athenian control in 446 BC and it had
been 'laid out' (attened as in a map) by an Athenian army that included Strepsiades (line 211). The
island is mentioned also in The Wasps.[23]
Academy: The site of a public park and gymnasium just outside Athens (later famous as the site of
Platos school). A student trained in the Superior
way would exercise there among the sacred olives
(line 1005).
Nile, Maiotis, Mimas: A river, marsh and mountain respectively. They are mentioned by Socrates
as the kind of places from which the Clouds might
set out for Athens (lines 272-3). The Nile is mentioned again in Thesmophoriazusae.[25]
Parnes: A mountain north of Athens. Socrates instructs Strepsiades to look towards the mountain for
the arriving clouds (line 323) but in fact the mountain cannot be seen from the Theatre of Dionysus.
Thurioi: A colony founded by Athens between
446-443 BC. Its foundation had inspired numerous
oracle-mongers and these are included among the
clients of the Clouds (line 332).
Sounion: A promontory associated with the cult of
Poseidon. It is sometimes struck by thunderbolts
and this is proof that the cosmos are governed by
material causes (line 401). Sounion is mentioned in
two other plays.[26]
The cave of Trophonius: The site of a terrifying
Boeotian cult to the hero Trophonius. Strepsiades
dreads entering The Thoughtery just as if it were this
cave (line 508)
2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Thales: A 6th-century Ionian philosopher from
Miletus. He is a mere nobody compared to Socrates
(line 180). His name appears also in The Birds.[33]
Prodicus: A contemporary sophist and natural
philosopher from Ceos but resident in Athens. The
Clouds respect him for his wisdom (line 361). He is
mentioned also in The Birds.[34]
Herodotus:
A contemporary historian from
Halicarnassus famous for his exotic accounts of
various nations and their customs, which many
Athenians found hilarious. A word used to denote
a very old-fashioned individual (bekkeselene!, line
398) might have been an allusion by Aristophanes
to Herodotus account of an experiment by the
Egyptian Pharaoh to determine humanitys original
language, which Pharaoh concluded to be Phrygian
on the grounds that the Phrygian word for bread
(bekkos) was the rst word spoken by some infants
who had never been taught to speak.[35] There
are also comic allusions to Herodotus in The
Acharnians.
Corinthians: Allies of the Spartans and ancient rivals of the Athenians in trade. A half pun identies them with bugs (coreis) when Strepsiades complains that he has been bitten by Corinthians (line
710). There are many references in the other plays
to Corinth and its citizens.[36]
Diagoras: An free-thinker from Melos and a resident of Athens, popularly believed to be an atheist.
The Melian is used as an epithet for Socrates (line
830) apparently on the grounds that he is an atheist
like Diagoras. Diagoras is mentioned in two other
plays.[37]
Cecrops: A legendary king of Athens. He is mentioned by the Clouds as they arrive in Athens (line
301) and there are references to him in the other
plays.[41]
Typhoeus: A hundred-headed giant. Strepsiades
mentions him when describing clouds in exaggerated terms loosely borrowed from dithyrambic poets (line 336). There is another mention in The
Knights.[42]
Eleusinian Mysteries: An Athenian cult of Demeter
with secret rites promising eternal life to initiates.
The Clouds refer to the mysteries without naming
them (lines 302-4).
Panathenaia: A yearly festival celebrating Athenas
birth. Strepsiades compares the noise of thunder to
the sound made in his stomach by festival soup (line
386) and Superior objects to feeble performances of
the Pyrrhic dance that he has witnessed at the festival
lately (988). The Panathenaia is mentioned by name
in two other plays.[43]
Kronia: A humble festival leading up to the Panathenaia. Socrates accuses Strepsiades of smelling of
this festival i.e. being old-fashioned (line 398).
Diasia: A winter festival. Strepsiades was barbecuing meat for relatives at this festival when a bladder exploded like lightning (line 408) and he once
bought a toy cart for Pheidippides during the festivities (864).
Electra: A mythical gure spurned by her own
mother. This play resembles her i.e. it was spurned
by the original audience (line 534).
Memnon and Sarpedon: Mythical heroes. Their
deaths are mourned by the gods on days that are
marked for festivals by the revised Athenian calendar (line 622). Memnon is mentioned again in The
Frogs.[44]
Telephus: A legendary Mysian king and the subject
of a controversial play by Euripides in which he appeared as a beggar. Superior compares Inferior to a
beggar-like Telephus (line 922). Aristophanes lampoons the Euripidean play in The Acharnians and
Thesmophoriazusae. Telephus is mentioned also in
The Frogs.[45]
Dipolieia: A sober festival in honour of Zeus Polieus
featuring a sacricial rite called Bouphonia. Inferior accuses Superior of resembling this festival and
of being full of Bouphonia i.e. he is old fashioned
(lines 984-5). The Dipolieia is mentioned also in
Peace.[46]
Tritogeneia: An epithet for Athena. Superior considers a poor performance of the pyrrhic dance to
be an insult to Tritogeneia (line 989). The epithet is
used also in Knights and Lysistrata.[47]
2.1
Leogoras: A wealthy aristocrat, father of the orator Andocides and related by marriage to Pericles. He bred pheasants (or horses) that Pheidippides wouldn't trade his self-respect for (line 109).
He is named also in The Wasps.[51]
3
Hippocrates: Probably the general reported by
Thucydides to have died in the Battle of Delium,[63]
his sons are mocked in comedy as simpletons. According to Inferior, any student of Superior ends up
resembling the sons of Hippocrates (line 1001).
Antimachus: A man of this name had been Aristophanes choregus in 427-6 BC and he was mocked
in The Acharnians for a lack of generosity.[64] According to Superior, students of Inferior turn out to
be buggers like Antimachus (line 1022).
Poets
Eupolis: A major comic poet and a rival of Aristophanes. The Chorus accuses him of stealing material for his play Maricas from Aristophanes The
Knights and from Phrynichus Andromeda (lines
553-6). Phrynichus, the comic poet, is mentioned
again in The Frogs.[65] Eupolis in fact produced Maricas in 421 BC, two years after The Clouds was produced (see The Clouds and Old Comedy).
DISCUSSION
Euripides: A renowned tragic poet and a controversial gure in his own time. Laments from one of his
plays [68] are parodied by Strepsiades (lines 718-9
and 1165-6). Pheidippides considers him the cleverest of poets (1377), he particularly enjoys his depiction of incest in Aiolus and he quotes from Alcestis[69] in defense of his right to beat his father (1415).
Euripides is frequently the butt of jokes in Aristophanes plays and he appears as a ludicrous character in The Acharnians, Thesmophoriazusae and The It has been argued that Aristophanes caricatured a 'preSocratic' Socrates and that the philosopher depicted by
Frogs.
7
Plato was a more mature thinker who had been inuenced by such criticism.[75] Conversely, it is possible that
Aristophanes caricature of the philosopher merely reects his own ignorance of philosophy.[77] According to
yet another view, The Clouds can best be understood in
relation to Platos works, as evidence of a historic rivalry
between poetic and philosophical modes of thought.[78]
5 Translations
Benjamin Dann Walsh, The Comedies of Aristophanes, vol. 1, 1837. 3 vols. English metre.
William James Hickie, 1853 - prose: full text
Benjamin B. Rogers, 1924 - verse
Arthur S. Way, 1934 - verse
Robert Henning Webb, 1960 - verse
William Arrowsmith, 1962 - prose and verse
Thomas G. West and Grace Starry West, 1984 prose
Peter Meineck, 1998 - prose
Charles Connaghan (prose), John Curtis Franklin
(metrical translation of choral lyrics), 2000
Ian Johnston, 2003 - verse
Edward Tomlinson, Simon R. B. Andrews and
Alexandra Outhwaite, 2007 - prose and verse (for
Kaloi k'Agathoi)
George Theodoridis, 2007 - prose: full text
Michael A. Tueller, 2011 - prose
Adaptations
Andrew David Irvine, 2007 - prose, Socrates on
Trial: A play based on Aristophanes Clouds and
Platos Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for
modern performance
Performances
The Oxford University Dramatic Society staged it
in the original Greek in 1905, with C.W.Mercer
as Strepsiades and Compton Mackenzie as
Pheidippides.[87]
CITATIONS
Citations
[30] Acharnians 181, 697, 698; Knights 781, 1334; Wasps 711;
Birds 246; Thesmophoriazusae 806; Frogs 1296
[32] Birds 485, 707, 1030; Thesmophoriazusae 734, 1175; Lysistrata 229, 1261; Ecclesiazusae 319
[5] Rhetoric, Comedy and the Violence of Language in Aristophanes Clouds Daphne O'Regan, Oxford University Press
US 1992, page 6
[6] Aristophanes:Old-and-new Comedy - Six essays in perspective Kenneth.J.Reckford, UNC Press 1987, page 393
[36] Knights 604,608; Birds 968, 969; Lysistrata 91; Thesmophoriazusae 404, 648; Frogs 443; Ecclesiazousae 199,
828; Wealth II 149, 173, 303
[37] Birds 1073; Frogs 320
[38] Acharnians 614
[39] Lysistrata 2
[40] Thesmophoriazusae 130
[41] Knights 1055; Wasps 438; Birds 1407; Wealth II 773
[42] The Knights 511
[13] Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, Clouds A. Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1975, page 31
[14] Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, Clouds A. Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1975, page 16
[15] Clouds (1970), page XIX
9 References
Dover, K.J. (1970). Aristophanes: Clouds. Oxford
University Press.
Pierre Brul, Les Nues et le problme de
l'incroyance au Ve sicle, in Pierre Brul (ed.), La
norme en matire religieuse en Grce ancienne. Actes
du XIIe colloque international du CIERGA (Rennes,
septembre 2007) (Lige, 2009) (Kernos Supplment, 21), 49-67.
Irvine, Andrew David (2008). Socrates on Trial: A
play based on Aristophanes Clouds and Platos Apology, Crito, and Phaedo, adapted for modern performance. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
ISBN 978-0-8020-9783-5 (cloth); ISBN 978-08020-9538-1 (paper)
10 External links
Works related to The Clouds at Wikisource
10
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