{Classical Greek Dramatists [continued (13)][– Aristophanes]]}[14th February 1991]

[Redbook8:257-258][19910214:1610l]{Classical Greek Dramatists [continued (13)][– Aristophanes]]}[14th February 1991]

19910214.1610

[continued]

‘The most famous of all comic dramatists of ancient Greece, Aristophanes is also the one whose works have been preserved in the greatest quantity. He is the only extant representative of the Old Comedy,* that is, of the phase of comic dramaturgy in which chorus, mime, and burlesque still played a considerable part and which was characterised by bold fantasy, merciless invective and outrageous satire, unabashedly licentious humour, and a marked freedom of political criticism. But Aristophanes belongs to the end of the phase, and, indeed, his last extant play, which has no choric element at all, may well be regarded as the only extant specimen of the short-lived Middle Comedy,** which, before the end of the 4^th century BC[E], was to be superseded in turn by the milder and more realistic social satire of the New Comedy.’**

***

*[See [Redbook8:243-244][19910208:1520k]{Greek Literature [continued (11)] [Comedy [continued (3)]]}[8th February 1991]]

**[See Redbook8:243-244][19910208:1520k]{Greek Literature [continued (11)] [Comedy [continued (3)]]}[8th February 1991, fn]

***– ibid [Encyclopaedia Britannica 20]: 396-7

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