Aristofanis

Born around 445 BC, he was a Kydathenaean, the son of Philip and Zenodora, and belonged to the Pandionis tribe. In school, the playwright was taught Homer and Hesiod, learned about Aesop, and heard of Archilochus and Alcaeus. At the age of nine, he studied Sophocles' Antigone, and by the age of twelve, the Parthenon was completed. When the Peloponnesian War broke out, he was one year shy of turning twenty. He witnessed the glory of Pericles and saw his death in 429 BC. Thematically, Aristophanes' work is dominated by politics, which first appeared in comedy with Cratinus. A conservative himself, he was an opponent of the demagogue Cleon, and his opposition is evident in the play "Knights." He harshly satirized politicians, including Pericles, generals like Lamachus, and poets such as Euripides and Aeschylus, and did not forget Socrates. We know of 44 titles of his works, but only eleven of his comedies have survived: "Acharnians," "Knights," "Clouds," "Wasps," "Peace," "Birds," "Lysistrata," "Thesmophoriazusae," "Frogs," "Ecclesiazusae," and "Wealth." He won his first victory at the Dionysia and four at the Lenaia. He died around 386 BC.