Aristophanes: Peace

This is a new edition, the first for thirty years, with introduction and commentary, of one of only eleven preserved plays of Aristophanes, the greatest master of the Athenian comic theatre. The commentary focuses on the realities of day-to-day life in the ancient world and includes an examination of the practical problems of staging.

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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.