Political Rhetoric and Comic Invective in Fifth-Century Athens

Old Attic comedy includes plenty of invective against the political leaders of Athens. The comic poets rework rhetorical elements from the public discourses of Athenian statesmen and thus provide indications about the practices and commonplaces of fifth-century political oratory. In this chapter the interaction between comic ridicule and political speeches is analysed through a particular case-study, the mock-trial of the two dogs in Aristophanes' Wasps (826‒1008). This episode parodies the confrontation between two ideologically opposed statesmen, the arch-demagogue Cleon and general Laches, in the last years of the Archidamian War. The Aristophanic text reflects rhetorical devices, propagandistic statements and ideological tenets drawn apparently from the public discourses which the opposed parties held in the context of their conflict. The presentation of Cleon and Laches in the form of dogs is a grotesque scenic materialisation of a rhetorical metaphor which Cleon used in his own harangues. The motifs of animal imagery and fable, which permeate the episode of the trial, may have been inspired by the use of Aesopic fables as persuasive examples in the speeches of the two opponents. The humorous character portraits of the two dogs reverberate with ideological principles and stereotypes that are familiar from the political debates between radicals and moderates in Athenian public life

Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Comedy · Comics · Fable · Ideology · Invective · Linguistics · Literature · Persuasion · Political science · Politics · Portrait · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Classical Antiquity Studies · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Law · Organic Chemistry Synthesis Methods · Philosophy

• The Play of Language in Ancient Greek Comedy

  Open Access•Kostas E Apostolakis, Ioannis M Konstantakos•Play of Language in Ancient Greek…•2024

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