Ch. 3. Humour, Ethnography, and Embassy: Herodotus, Histories 3.17–25 and Aristophanes, Acharnians 61–133

Abstract

This paper explores connections between historiography and Old Comedy by analysing two prominent embassy scenes: first, Herodotus’ depiction of the visit of the ‘Fish Eaters’, chosen emissaries of the Persians, to the court of the Ethiopian king (3.17-25), and second, the scene from Aristophanes, Acharnians (61-133) in which Dicaeopolis meets the Athenian ambassadors who have returned from Persia, bringing a Persian ambassador with them. Both the historian and the comic poet employ ethnic humour, the manipulation of stereotypes, deceptive ambassadors, and the theme of food and wine to create the themes and characters of these meetings, and the paper argues that the two scenes evince significant affinities. Published in Emily Baragwanath and Edith Foster, ed., Clio and Thalia. Attic Comedy and Historiography (HISTOS Supplement 6), p. 67-97.