Slave and citizen in Aristophanic comedy 1

Abstract

Contrary to much recent opinion, this chapter argues that Aristophanic comedy, far from validating or confirming the status distinctions between citizen and alien, free and slave, rather consistently negates and subverts them. Physical violence is directed as readily against free men as against slaves—and, if anything, it is those who assault slaves that are more likely to suffer for it; there is no systematic distinction between slaves' language and that of free people; slave characters often establish a strong rapport with the audience; and the slaves of a comic hero typically aid his struggle and share in his rewards. Non-Athenian Greeks, too, are not treated with contempt—unless they try to masquerade as citizens. In Old Comedy the distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’ has nothing to do with free or citizen status, but only with whether one is for or against the comic project and the comic spirit.