Aristophanes: Cavalry

by Robert Tordoff, C. W. Marshall (Editor), Niall W. Slater (Editor)

Overview

Offering for the first time a student introduction to Aristophanes' most explosive political satire, this volume is an essential guide to the context, themes and later reception of Cavalry. The ancient comedy is a fascinating insight into demagoguery and political rhetoric in classical Athens. These are subjects that resonate with a modern audience more now than ever before.

Originally performed in 424 BCE, Cavalry was the first play Aristophanes directed himself and it was awarded first prize. It targets the Athenian demagogue, Cleon, who had risen to prominence since the death of Pericles and to pre-eminence after an audacious victory over Sparta in 425 BCE. In Cavalry, Aristophanes attacks Cleon's popularity with the masses, but also criticises the democracy itself as guilty of gullibility, self-interest and political shortsightedness. As the play shows, the only hope of escape from the crisis is for Athens to find a leader even more popular Cleon. And who better to be more foul-mouthed, depraved and shameless than a sausage-seller, if only because he turns out in the end to have a good heart and a true love of traditional Athenian values?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350065680
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/24/2025
Series:	Bloomsbury Ancient Comedy Companions
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Robert Tordoff is Associate Professor of Ancient Greek, York University, Toronto, Canada.

C. W. Marshall is Professor of Greek, Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia, Canada. His publications include The Stagecraft and Performance of Roman Comedy (2006), Classics and Comics (2011) and No Laughing Matter (Bloomsbury, 2012).

Niall W. Slater is S. C. Dobbs Professor of Latin and Greek in the Department of Classics at Emory University, USA.

Table of Contents

List of Figures
Preface
A Note on the Spelling of Ancient Greek words in English
A Note on the Play's Title
List of Abbreviations

1. Aristophanes and drama in Classical Athens
2. Aristophanes' Cavalry and Cleon
3. Cavalry 1-302: Prologue scene and parodos
4. Cavalry 303-610: First agon and parabasis
5. Cavalry 611-996: Report of off-stage action and second agon
6. Cavalry 997-1150: Divination contest and 'duet'
7. Cavalry 1151-1315: Competition in public service and second parabasis
8. Cavalry 1316-1408: Closing episodes and exodos
9. Modern reception and performance

Notes
Bibliography
Further Reading
Index

Editorial Reviews

A novel approach to Classical Greek drama: the insights are original, showing that the rhetoric of praise and blame in epic extends into the multidimensional poetics of tragedy. Particularly illuminating is the author's demonstration that the discourse of women is poeticised in special ways that raise the level of humanism conveyed by tragedy.” —Gregory Nagy, Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University, USA

From the Publisher