Ch. 5. Aristophanes' Cleon and Post-Peloponnesian War Athenians: Denunciations in Thucydides

Abstract

This paper explores some important ways in which the assembly scenes in Book 4 of Thucydides (21–2 and 27.3–29) reactivate the themes and strategies of characterisation from Aristophanes’ Knights. Scholars have often argued that the consistency between Thucydides’ and Aristophanes’ representations of Cleon and the assembly reflects a shared bias against Cleon. The paper suggests that we should review this opinion in the light of the fact that Thucydides’ post-war readers were in the opposite situation from Aristophanes’ triumphant post-Pylos audience of 424, and examines Thucydides’ resuscitation of Aristo-phanic characterisations and themes in terms of his aims in respect to these post-war readers. As a particular example of Thucydides’ re-use of Aristophanic modes, the paper examines Thucydides’ close attention to depicting and explaining Cleon’s denunciations of others. It goes on to mention other commonalities of theme and attitude between the two authors, and finally suggests that Thucydides’ reactivation of Aristophanic themes links him to further developments in fourth-century historiography, for which comedy was an important source. Published in Emily Baragwanath and Edith Foster, ed., Clio and Thalia. Attic Comedy and Historiography (HISTOS Supplement 6), p. 129-52.