c. 448-380 B.C. The greatest
comic poet from
classic Greece and author of all extant
comedies from the period. The only
extant works are
The Acharnians, The Birds, The Clouds, The Ecclesiazusae, The Frogs, The Knights, Lysistrata, Peace, Plutus, The Thesmophoriazus, and
The Wasps. Hilarious and
bawdy, his plays can be enjoyed as much today as in his time, though some of the "inside" jokes and political humor is lost. At least two plays (his first comedies,
The Banqueters and
The Babylonians) are known to be lost.
Lysistrata is his best known work, just about the earliest feminist drama of all time, in which the women of Athens go on a sex strike for peace (during the Peloponnesian War) and political power. The Clouds is a farcical satire on Socrates; in fact this play is mentioned in Plato's Apology (Socrates complains in his last defense that he has been misrepresented by such comedies. Some things never change.)
Later in his life after Lysistrata, Aristophanes wrote less controversial plays, as the political climate had become dangerous. Socrates himself was executed during this time. It should be noted that some sources show that the real Socrates was actually a fan of Aristophanes, and that Apology didn't quite accurately portray his attitude toward Aristophanes.