Aristophanes: Myth, Ritual and Comedy Book

	Preface
	Abbreviations
1	Introduction	1
2	Acharnians	18
	The 'Unjust' and 'Just' Cities	18
	Telephus	27
	Another view of Dicaeopolis	32
	The Anthesteria	35
	Polis and deme	39
3	Knights	45
	Rites of passage	45
	Knights and ephebeia	52
	Knights and the succession	58
	Knights and Athens	66
	Sausage-Seller and salvation	74
4	Wasps	78
	Wasps and transition	78
	Philocleon's agones	81
	Philocleon redivivus	93
	Implications	96
5	Clouds	102
	Strepsiades' ephebeia	102
	Socrates goes	112
	The Cloud-Chorus	124
	Morality and humour	130
6	Peace	134
	Dung-Beetle	134
	Hermes	138
	The return of Peace	142
7	Birds	151
	Birds and foundation-mythology	152
	Fantasy and Utopia?	166
8	Lysistrata	178
	Women in Athens	178
	Preliminaries	181
	The women	184
	The men	199
	Reconciliation	201
9	Thesmophoriazusae	205
	Thesmophoriazusae and Thesmophoria	205
	Thesmophoria and Euripidean tragedy	217
10	Frogs	228
	Frogs and Eleusis?	228
	Orpheus, Dionysus and Eleusis	230
	Frogs and Mysteries	234
	Frogs and politics	238
	Mysteries and poetic agon	344
11	Ecclesiazusae	254
12	Plutus	268
	Economic and social circumstances	268
	Plutus	269
	Charis	273
	Plutus, Asclepius, Prometheus, Hermes	278
	Wealth versus Poverty	284
	Conclusion	292
	Bibliography	294
	Index	317