I.The
only poet of Old Comedy with complete plays, 11, that have come down to
us--of 44 ascribed to him.
A. The Clouds (423)—on Sophists and Socrates.
B. Peace (421)—a farmer on a dung beetle goes to
Olympus.
C. Birds (414)—utopia in the sky.
D. Lysistratra (411)—women end the war.
E. Frogs (405)—who is the best tragic poet?
II. Old Comedy originated in the
fertility cult of Dionysus; it used a chorus of 24 and comic masks. The word comedy
comes from
the Greek word komos, a revel or celebration.