Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-24hb2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T08:36:36.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Myth in Aristophanes

from Part I - Sources and Interpretations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2009

Roger D. Woodard
Affiliation:
State University of New York, Buffalo
Get access

Summary

One possible desideratum from the application of new technologies to the problem of reading the carbonised Herculaneum scrolls might be, for students of Greek Old Comedy at any rate, a papyrus-roll of mythical comedies. When we look at the scanty remains of Old Comedy, it appears that something like a third of the extant titles could have come from comedies on mythological topics: and yet not one of them has survived in more than a tiny number of fragments. Indeed, the only play that gives us any idea of what they might have looked like is Plautus' Amphitryon, possibly based on Philemon’s New Comedy The Long Night. This treats the story of Jupiter’s lengthy dalliance with King Amphitryon’s wife, and the king’s awkward return. It makes much play with the fact that the god has disguised himself as the king, and pretends to have returned from the war; his servant Mercury disguises himself as Amphitryon’s slave Sosia. Mercury has a long scene in which he punishes Sosia’s presumption in claiming to be Sosia, in order to delay him to give Jupiter time to escape. Jupiter has the decency to step in to make up the quarrel that breaks out between husband and wife as a result of the misunderstandings, and makes an appearance at the end to sort everything out. As is generally the case in later Greek comedy, the gods are very much brought down to the level of mortals in terms of character and concerns, and come across as more rascally than the poor deluded mortals; their power to do whatever they wish makes for a good deal of the comedy. How far this later 'embourgeoisement' of the gods was a feature of Old Comedy is not possible to tell.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Myth in Aristophanes
  • Edited by Roger D. Woodard, State University of New York, Buffalo
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology
  • Online publication: 28 March 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521845205.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Myth in Aristophanes
  • Edited by Roger D. Woodard, State University of New York, Buffalo
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology
  • Online publication: 28 March 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521845205.006
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Myth in Aristophanes
  • Edited by Roger D. Woodard, State University of New York, Buffalo
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology
  • Online publication: 28 March 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521845205.006
Available formats
×