This book presents a collection of new studies on the political aspects of Aristophanes comic plays, produced in Athens in the latter half of the 5th century BCE.Ralph M. Rosen, Ph.D. (1983), Harvard University, is Vartan Gregorian Professor of the Humanities and Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has published broadly on Greek and Roman literature and culture, with a focus on ancient comedy and satire, comparative poetics, Greek intellectual history and ancient medicine.

Helene P. Foley, Ph.D. (1975), Harvard University, Claire Tow Professor of Classics at Barnard College, Columbia University has published books and articles on Greek epic and drama, on women and gender in Antiquity, and on modern performance and adaptation of Greek drama.