Aristophanes: A Biography

The Greek playwright Aristophanes lived from 448 to about 385 BCE. He is thought to have been born in Athens in the township of Cydathenaeum and was probably wealthy and well educated. He had three sons, Philippos, Araros, and Nikostrato who were all comic poets. Aristophanes wrote satire and comedy and is the only writer of "Old Comedy" whose plays are still intact. During his lifetime, Athens underwent many cultural and social changes and so he had …

…to symbolize the alcoholic dictator. In The Clouds, he attacked the philosopher Socrates. He assailed Euripides in three of his plays - The Acharnians, Thesmorphoriazusae and The Frogs. His last two plays were political, but they lacked the meaningfulness of his earlier plays. The Spartans had defeated Athens and liberties had decreased considerably. Aristophanes did not have to restrict his thoughts for long; he died three years after the production of his final play, Plutus.