Wasps was first produced at the Lenaea festival of 422 BC. The play is at once a political satire and also, like Clouds and the lost Banqueters, a comedy on the theme of the conflict of generations. The play follows the efforts of a mischievous and mercurial old man to escape the control of a stern and heavy son. In its political aspect it attacks the leading Athenian politician Cleon, as Knights had. But Wasps represents a departure as it concentrates less on Cleon personally, and more on his and his associates' alleged domination of the law-courts and the men who served in them as jurors. Fi ... More
Keywords: Wasps, political satire, play
| Print publication date: 1983 | Print ISBN-13: 9780856682124 |
| Published to Liverpool Scholarship Online: February 2021 | DOI:10.3828/liverpool/9780856682124.001.0001 |
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