Amphitheos in Aristophanes’ Acharnians

Nikolsky Boris M.

The article deals with a scene from the prologue of Aristophanes’ Acharnians, where a character named Amphitheos appears. The current views on this character, either as a parody on a certain contemporary of Aristophanes or as an important participant of the play’s action, striving for peace, prove to be unconvincing. A new interpretation of the character’s comic role is proposed, which explains the scene as a satire on a practice of getting money by fraud, namely, by alleged participation in embassies.

Keywords: Athens, Aristophanes, Acharnians, comedy, Amphitheos
References:

Dow, S. 1969: Some Athenians in Aristophanes. American Journal of Archaeology 73, 234–235.

Edmunds, L. 1980: Aristophanes’ Acharnians. Yale Classical Studies 26, 1–36.

Kanavou, N. 2011: Aristophanes’ Comedy of Names: A Study of Speaking Names in Aristophanes. Berlin–New York.

Leeuwen, J. van (ed.) 1901: Aristophanes. Acharnenses. Leiden.

Méautis, G. 1932: L’épisode d’Amphithéos dans les Acharniens d’Aristophane. Revue des études anciennes 34, 241–244.

Müller-Strübing, H. 1873: Aristophanes und die historische Kritik: Polemische Studien zur Geschichte von Athen im 5. Jahrhundert vor Chr. Leipzig.

Olson, S.D. (ed.) 2002: Aristophanes. Acharnians. Oxford.

Paley, F.A. (ed.) 1876: The Acharnians of Aristophanes. Cambridge.

Pearson, A.C. (ed.) 1917: The Fragments of Sophocles. Vol. I–III. Cambridge.

Rennie, W. (ed.) 1909: The Acharnians of Aristophanes. London.

Rhodes, P.J. 1972: The Athenian Boule. Oxford.

Starkie, W.J.M. (ed.) 1909: The Acharnians of Aristophanes. London.

Wilson, N. 2007: Aristophanea. Studies on the Text of Aristophanes. Oxford.