Aristophanes, Merchant-Ships

Ian Storey (Trent University)

Ed. by Jonathan Burgess, University of Toronto
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University)

Dates

First circulation or publication -423

Places

Ancient Greece (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Comedy
Play

Resources

Nearly thirty fragments (K.-A. 415-443) remain from this lost comedy, as well as one important testimonium. The third hypothesis to Aristophanes’ Peace (lines 36-40 Wilson) comments:

This is not the only play that Aristophanes produced about peace, but also Acharnians [L-425], Knights [L-424], and Merchant-Ships. He is serious about this throughout, making fun of Kleon, who opposed peace, and constantly attacking Lamachos the war-supporter.

Kleon died in the winter of 422/1, and if the three other comedies are presented in chronological order, Merchant-Ships belongs between 424 and 422, with L-424 (Knights), D-423 (first Clouds

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1041 words

Citation: Storey, Ian. "Merchant-Ships". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 March 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13335, accessed 24 November 2024.]

Save this article