Ancient Theater Themes Could Apply to Present USA Politics

I decided to go back and reread some of the theatrical plays of antiquity that I had read many years ago as part of my high school curriculum.

I dusted off my copies of Euripides, Sophocles, and Aristophanes and started going through them, especially looking at what Athenian thinkers of ancient times had to say on subjects that could apply today.

I found it remarkable how Aristophanes’ comedies and commentary about Athens and its politics of 4th century B.C.E. could so easily apply to 21st century USA by just changing a few names.

Perhaps if we had an Aristophanes today, showing the folly and deceit of some of the politicos as he did for the Athenians of his time, we wouldn’t have such deep polarization and hate. Or the election to power of what many consider as “corrupt and intellectually dishonest” politicians.

Today, only a few of Aristophanes’ comedies are in existence. Scholars know the titles of perhaps 32, although several are in dispute.

Babylonians (which now exists only in fragments) was particularly controversial, since it was the first Aristophanes’ play to ridicule Kleon (c. 475–422 B.C.E), the money-hungry leader of the party that ruled the city/state of Athens at the time. He was the most prominent representative of the merchant class in Athenian politics and was elected as the city’s leader after the death of the great Pericles.

There are many references to Kleon’s character in the literature of the times. The chronicler, Plutarch, described him as vulgar and alleged that he encouraged the greed of the merchants in The Life of Nicias. (Nicias was an Athenian politician and general during the Peloponnesian War.) Kleon was described as an irresponsible buffoon.

Aelian, another chronicler, mentioned that Kleon was in debt when he entered politics but died worth 100 talants. In other words, he became a millionaire by today’s standards.

One of Aristophanes’ plays, The Clouds (in Greek: Νεφέλαι), is a lampooning of intellectual and philosophical thinking in classical Athens. It was originally produced for the Great Dionysia Festival of 423 B.C.E. The version we have today is considered a later adaptation by Aristophanes of his original comedy.

In The Clouds, Aristophanes ridiculed Socrates, the “greatest philosopher” of the time. In reality, the play is an attack on the sophistry movement. Socrates was never part of that movement, but Aristophanes used him as a convenient foil since every Athenian of the period knew of him and his ideas. As far as Aristophanes was concerned, all philosophers of the time were bizarre charlatans and intellectually bankrupt.

Aristophanes regarded The Clouds, with main themes of morality and learning, as the finest comedy of his career.

It’s a satire about Strepsiades and his son, Pheidippides, both representing the “middle class” Athenians of the time and “The Thinkery,” supposedly a school headed by Socrates. At this school, students learned philosophy and oration, as well as how to avoid intellectual and financial consequences of their actions. The ancient world knew well how to treat demagogues and sophists. Perhaps we should still relate to those lessons.