Peace

Aristophanes’ Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 B.C. as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson’s edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer’s of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, but it focuses in particular on the realities of daily life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes’ early career, the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet’s theology.