Political Context of Greek Comedy

Greece was made up of many small independent city-states.
1. Athens, Sparta, Thebes, 3 big examples
  1. Athens grew in power (5th century) and took charge over many smaller city-states.
    1. By the 5th century Athens was a democracy but only citizens could play a role in the political life of the city.
      1. Women, slaves and foreigners could not participate in the politics of the city.
    2. Leading philosophers, poets, scientists, artists, rhetoricians and literary theorists were attracted from all over the Greek world to come to Athens.
      1. The city became a hub for activity
      2. Only native-born males were granted citizenship and they made up not even a quarter of the population of the city.
2. They had differing views and systems on politics and culture and so frequently there was conflict.
The themes within Old Comedy were local in colour and theme which helped the audience relate to the subject matter
Lysistrata
1. The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta
  1. 413 BC: The Athenians and their allies suffered a catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition, a turning-point in the long-running Peloponnesian War.
    1. In 411 BC, the Athenian democracy was overthrown in favour of an oligarchy
      1. Oligarchy: a small group of people having control of a country or organization.
In 404 BC Athens was defeated and occupied by Sparta.

Resource summary

	Created by Declan Wiseman almost 8 years ago