Category Archives: Literature

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The Pharsalia by Lucan: Epic Poem on the Roman Civil War

by Whelan October 8, 2021

By Ed Whelan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom

Roman literature has been enormously influential in the history of Western culture. The Pharsalia, an Epic poem by Lucan, was once widely read, and inspired many great Renaissance writers, such as Christopher Marlowe and Dante. This work tells the story of the great Roman Civil War between Julius Caesar and his legions on one side, and Pompey and his supporters in the Senate on the other. The Epic is one of the masterpieces of the Silver Age of Roman literature, and it is not only a remarkable work of art, but it also offers many insights into the history of Rome.

The Poet and his Epic

The author of the Pharsalia was Lucan (39 AD – 65 AD) who was born in what is now southern Spain. He was the grandson of Seneca the Elder, and the nephew of the Stoic philosopher and statesman, Seneca the Younger. He became a close friend of Nero, who helped Lucan to secure the post of Quaestor. Lucan managed to write the Epic which consists of ten books in a remarkably short period of time. In this he was assisted by his loyal wife. At some point, Lucan and Nero had a falling out. Some sources suggest that Lucan dared to criticise the work of Nero. In 65 AD, Lucan became involved in a conspiracy led by Piso. This plot was discovered, and Lucan was implicated. Ancient sources alleged that the poet revealed information about the other conspirators, including his family members, in a bid to save his life. This failed and he was forced to commit suicide by opening his veins by Nero.

The Pharsalia

The Epic is also known in Latin as the De Bello Civili (Concerning the Civil War). The work narrates in dramatic detail the events of the war between Julius Caesar and Pompey (49-45 BC), which led to the downfall of the Roman Republic. The work opens with a dedication to Nero and a denunciation of civil war. In Book One it relates how Caesar defied the Senate and marched on Rome. It then narrates how the Senate and Pompey were forced to leave Italy. The poem tells how Caesar campaigned against forces loyal to the Senate in Spain. The poem concentrates on the events surrounding the battle of Pharsalus, which took place in Thessaly in Greece. This was the crucial battle of the Civil War and it forms the centrepiece of the Epic. The poem became known as the Pharsalia by later Roman commentators, naming it after the battle.

Lucan relates how Caesar was able to defeat Pompey, and how the latter was forced to flee. The last Books are concerned with the wanderings of the defeated general, and finally his assassination in Egypt. The Epic concludes with the Julius Caesar in Egypt fighting for his life after he became involved in the Egyptian Civil War, and his infatuation with Cleopatra. Scholars believe that if Lucan had lived, the poet would have continued his Epic until the assassination of Caesar, or even the rise of Augustus. The Epic is not an accurate historical document and there are many sections of the work such as Pompey consulting with a witch that are inventions.

The Style of the Epic

The poem shows the influence of Virgil and Ovid, the key figures in the Golden Age of Roman literature. The influence of oratory on the poet is evident as well, and there are many sententious phrases in the Epic. It is structured in a series of discrete episodes and eschews a linear narrative. Lucan does not respect the Epic convention of portraying divine intervention in human affairs. The Epic minimizes the role of the Gods and even seems to deny that they exist. On the other hand, it focuses a great deal on the supernatural, such as witches and oracles. The work of Lucan is a good example of the type of literature that was favored by Nero and his court. The style of the work has made it difficult to read for many modern readers.

The Themes of Pharsalia

The Epic is often interpreted as being anti-imperialistic. It is clearly sympathetic to the cause of Pompey and the Senate. Many have argued that the poet shows his sympathies to the Republican system of government. The sentiments in the work could also be interpreted as being critical of Nero. There are some academics who believe that this is not the case. They argue that the occasions when Julius Caesar is portrayed negatively were warnings to Nero. An important theme in the book is the importance of character and how it can influence events. The Epic can be seen as being anti-war, and the poet graphically describes the tragedy caused when Romans fought Romans, which is rare in Latin literature.

Conclusion

Some have seen Lucan as part of a Neronian Renaissance in Roman literature, along with writers such as his relative Seneca the Younger and Petronius. The Pharsalia influenced literature during the Renaissance but subsequently fell out of favor. While it is not comparable to the work of Virgil and Ovid, it still an important literary work. Today, scholars have revived the study of the Epic poem because it provides insights into the culture of First Century Rome.

References

Leigh, M. (1997), Lucan: Spectacle and Engagement. Oxford.

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Tags: Civil War, Julius Caesar, Lucan, Nero, Pharsalia, Pompey

Athena in Ancient Literature

by Sean Kelly October 6, 2021

by Sean Kelly, Managing Editor, Classical Wisdom

She’s one of the most famous and prominent of the Greek deities. Her symbol – the owl – still stands proudly, millennia later, as an emblem of wisdom.

Yet what do the ancient texts actually say about her? Who is she, and what does she do?

What do we know about the Goddess of Wisdom?

Athena in Homer

The Iliad and the Odyssey were both of central importance to ancient Greek society. Even today, it is many people’s first exposure to the world of the Classics. Athena’s role in both, while comparatively small in terms of ‘screentime’, is key to the action of the story.

Of the two Homeric poems, Athena plays a much larger role in the Odyssey. She essentially acts as the protector of Odysseus. At various points across Odysseus’ journey, it is Athena’s help and guidance that allow the cunning hero to escape to safety. Moreover, it is Athena’s request to Zeus that allows Odysseus to leave the island of Circe.

Some have taken this to diminish the role of Odysseus himself. The interaction between the human and the divine in Greek literature, however, is more complex than that. Odysseus own qualities of cunning and guile are what win him the approval of the goddess. It is his own resourcefulness that makes him worthy of having a god intervene on his behalf. Odysseus’ own personality is defined by cleverness and using his wits. That these are traits similar to those possessed by the goddess herself is significant.

A direct parallel is drawn between Odysseus and Athena in two incidents that bookend the epic. Early on in the Odyssey, Athena appears to Odysseus’ son Telemachus in disguise. Towards the end of the epic, it is Athena that allows Odysseus to take on the form of a beggar, which allows him to re-enter Ithaca disguised.

Ulysses transformed by Athena into beggar, 1775, by Giuseppe Bottani

Athena’s presence in the Iliad is notably less prominent. Nevertheless, she also acts as something of a guide to Achilles at key moments throughout. For instance, she is present at the infamous quarrel of Agamemnon and Achille over Breseis which opens the epic. She helps stay the anger of Achilles, preventing him from killing Agamemnon outright!

Athena in Greek Tragedy

Athena was, naturally enough, the patron of her namesake city, Athens. The Festival Dionysia, where Greek tragedies were staged, actually took place in Athens. So, the audience for Greek tragedies consisted primarily of Athenians. The characterisation of Athena in Greek tragedies is, unsurprisingly, consistently positive.

Perhaps Athena’s most important role in Greek Tragedy is in the Eumenides by Aeschylus. Athena appears in the third and final play of the Oresteia trilogy, where she effectively acts as a judge in the world’s first courtroom drama.

The deciding vote as to whether or not Orestes should be considered guilty of his crimes is granted to Athena. The ruling frees Orestes from punishment by the Furies, while also granting the Furies a place of honour in a new system of justice.

This ruling is seen as representing in dramatic form perhaps the greatest Athenian invention – democracy.

Athena also appears in a number of Euripides‘ plays, such as Iphigeneia Among the Taurians, The Suppliants and Ion. In each of these plays, she acts in the role of deus ex machina, a term that literally means ‘god from the machine’.

Although that term might conjure up the sort of imagery you’d see in a Marvel or Matrix movie, it’s real meaning is much more straightforward than it might sound.

The ‘machine’ is in fact the mechane, a sort of crane that formed part of the ancient Greek stage. It was a heightened platform, placed physically above the action of the rest of the scene, to signify to the audience that the actor was playing a god.

Whenever the drama has reached a point near the climax of the story, and all the play’s problems seem unsolvable, a god appeared on this stage. They then go on to very effectively resolve the conflict of the play, by telling each of the characters what they must do. It’s not always been a popular technique in tragedy – Aristotle was critical of the convention of the deus ex machina in his treatise on tragedy, the Poetics. Today, many would still agree with him. Yet it is a fitting role for Athena to fulfil. It’s consistent with how Athena is characterised throughout ancient literature, while also wrapping up the stories of the tragedies

There is, of course, an even more vast body of myths that surround Athena. Many of these belonged to the lost poems of the Epic Cycle. We still know many of these stories – for instance, that she was one of the three goddesses Paris had to choose between in the “Apple of Discord” story. Yet so much is also lost. Perhaps the real wisdom is found in the words of Socrates – “I know that I know nothing.”

Posted in Gods, Literature, Mythology - No Comments

Tags: Aeschylus, Athena, Eumenides, Euripdes, Homer, Oresteia, The Iliad, The Odyssey

Heroides: Ovid’s Brilliance Through the Female Voice

by Visnja Bojovic October 1, 2021

By Visnja Bojovic, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom

“Whatever words are here, read on to the end.

How could reading this letter hurt you?

Indeed, my words might even give you pleasure.

These letters carry my secret thoughts over land and sea,”

So writes Ovid in the Letter from Phaedra to Hippolytus from his magnificent work, the Heroides. Here, Ovid explores some of the greatest (and some of the most tempestuous) romances of Greek mythology: Odysseus and Penelope, Dido and Aeneas, and Theseus and Ariadne, amongst others. Despite its obvious appeal, however, the Heroides has been unjustifiably neglected and overlooked.

This work is a collection of 21 fictional letters. The first fifteen letters are presented as being written by women (all mythical except for the final letter, which is by a fictional version of the Greek poetess Sappho). They are each addressed to their current or former lovers from whom they have been separated. Letters 16-21 are known as the Double Heroides, as they contain three letters from mythical heroes, all followed by a response from their respective female lovers.

These letters are all written in elegiac couplets: a pair of sequential lines in poetry in which the first line is written in dactylic hexameter (typical for epic poetry) and the second line in dactylic pentameter. The authenticity of some of these letters, however, particularly the Double Heroides, has been questioned. Yet most critics accept that 1-14 were written by Ovid.

Ariadne Abandoned by Theseus by Angelica Kauffmann

This work is innovative in many aspects. Ovid made a significant change in shifting the perspective of an elegiac poem to a female one. Elegy was all about personal experiences and desires, and an individual’s feelings, but usually from a perspective of a male lover. Instead, Ovid lets women speak up and offer their own perspective. Yet we must be a more careful than to assume that Ovid was some kind of an initiator of the fight for the female voice, however significant this change might be.

Speaking of innovation, Ovid did something else that was not common for this type of poetry. He took mythical material, most common in epic and tragedy, and retold it in the elegiac manner, putting love at the center of attention.

The reception of the Heroides has varied greatly (and it continues to vary to this day). It achieved great popularity in the Middle Ages. Yet tastes and expectations change over time, and starting with the 19^th century, these fictional letters began to receive a lot of criticism.

One of the greatest objections to Heroides is its artificiality. What this criticism fails to acknowledge, however, is that these letters are not written in an attempt to sound like genuine letters. They are the product of a poet with well-rounded rhetorical knowledge, and a great sense for innovation. Ovid uses the epistolary form as a literary device, placing particular aspects of the mythical narrative in the center. This allows us to hear from the perspective of some of the more marginalized characters and figures from Greek mythology.

Many critics have found these letters too monotonous, as they have similar narratives with too much repetition across them. We cannot deny that there is repetition in Heroides. However, this is not accidental. Although Ovid’s heroines are saying the same things, they are doing it in slightly different ways. Moreover, the authors of different letters are alluding to each other and referring to the words of their respective comrades in suffering. This kind of intertextuality shows that Ovid’s repetition was not accidental, but rather a deliberate literary technique.

Even though the main themes of these letters are almost the same, and despite the fact that the characters are saying similar things, the tone of these letters is not the same. One would expect all of them to be sad and demonstrate the typical tragic pathos. However, some of these letters are tragicomic, and some are incredibly witty and humorous, while still preserving the tone of suffering and evoking compassion among the readers.

So whether you want to experience cathartic emotions or laughter, or even better, a roller-coaster of both, read Ovid’s Heroides. In any case, you will not regret it!

References

Ovid, Heroides, The Latin Library

P. Murgatroyd, B. Reeves, and S. Parker (2017) Ovid’s Heroides: A New Translation and Critical Essays, Routledge

L. Fulkerson (2005) The Ovidian Heroine as Author; Reading, Writing, and Community in the Heroides; Cambridge University Press

If you want to read more about Ovid, this month’s edition of our magazine, Classical Wisdom Litterae, focuses on the famed poet. Get your subscription NOW!

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Tags: Greek Mythology, Heroides, Letters, love, Ovid

The Top 8 Greatest Inventions of the Mycenaeans

by Whelan August 3, 2021

By Ed Whelan, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom

This month’s Classical Wisdom Litterae Issue is dedicated to the Mycenaeans! Get a subscription and learn more about these fascinating Bronze Age people HERE.

Who were they?

The Mycenaeans are often regarded as the first Greeks. They were the descendants of the first Neolithic farmers who settled in what is now Greece, and they were influenced by the Minoans. They developed cities and kingdoms, and in the late Bronze Age, these developed into a spectacular and sophisticated culture and civilization (1700-1100 BC). Their states were based on vast palaces and ruled by kings known as wanax. The Mycenaeans controlled the Peloponnese in Greece and eventually occupied Crete and the many Aegean Islands. Their influence was felt as far away as Cyprus and Asia Minor. The Iliad and the Odyssey, two of the most celebrated works on ancient literature, depict the Mycenaeans and their wars. Yet in about 1100 BC the Mycenaean culture had collapsed, for reasons that remain unclear. It was possibly due to natural disasters, foreign invasion, or civil wars. Here are some of their greatest achievements…

1. Mycenaean Architecture

The Mycenaeans were great builders and they engaged in some of the largest construction projects in Europe before the Roman Empire. These Bronze Age Greeks profoundly influenced the development of Archaic and Classical Greek architecture. The Mycenaean megaron, or palace complex, were monumental royal residencies that were enclosed by massive walls. These massive structures had porches, a vestibule, halls and arched corbel galleries. These were all elements that were extensively used by later Greeks. The Mycenaean Palace greatly influenced the evolution of the Classical temples and public buildings, which have significantly influenced the development of Western architecture.

'The Mask of Agamemnon' — ‘The Mask of Agamemnon’

2. Mycenaean Engineering

The Mycenaeans were also great builders. Archaeologists have found that they were among the first to build stone bridges in Europe. They were also the first European civilizations that developed flood defences and even terraced agriculture. Sadly, however, much of their engineering knowledge was lost during the so-called Greek Dark Ages.

3. Mycenaeans factories

The Mycenaeans were also the first European Bronze Society who developed large scale manufacturing. These were much more advanced than other Bronze Age European cultures. They had large scale enterprises that made textiles, pottery and metalwork that were exported all over the Mediterranean World.

4. Mycenaean Writing

The Mycenaeans developed the first form of written Greek. This script is known as Linear B, and it was influenced by the mysterious Minoan script known as Linear A. Archaeologists have found many clay tablets with Linear B. The script was mainly used for record-keeping and administrative purposes. However, the Archaic Greeks alphabet was not based on Linear B, but was based on the phonetic Phoenician alphabet. Yet phrases and words from Linear B do appear in the works of Hesiod and Homer.

5. Mycenaean Cultural Achievements

The Mycenaeans had many cultural achievements. Their religion played a crucial role in the development of later Greek mythology and beliefs. They worshipped the first known representations of Zeus and Poseidon. The origin of many Archaic and Classical Greeks religious practices originated in the Late Bronze Age culture. Mycenaean stories played a key role in the evolution of Greek mythology. The Iliad and the Odyssey are both probably based on Mycenaean stories that may have been once recited in the great palaces to entertain the wanax and his court.

6. Mycenaean Military armor

The Mycenaeans were a society of warriors, which is very well shown in the Homeric epics. The Mycenaeans developed a new type of helmet made out of boars’ tusks. They used their considerable metalworking skills to develop new types of armor which were very advanced for the time. The best-known, example of this is the Dendra Panolopy (1450 BC) which is a full-body suit of armor.

Mycenaean soldiers from a fresco c 1300 BC

7. Mycenaean Military Revolution

Homer describes the Mycenaean armies fighting outside the walls of Troy. The aristocratic elite fought in chariots but the Mycenaean army was composed of heavy infantry, typically armored. They used long spears and round shields. The Mycenaean military equipment and tactics were very effective and probably influenced the development of the hoplite style warfare, which was used by the Spartans and Athenians to defeat the Persians in the 5^th century BC.

8. Advanced shipbuilding.

The Mycenaeans were not only great warriors they were also great mariners. We can get a glimpse of this in the adventures of Odysseus. It appears that the Mycenaeans developed trade networks over the Mediterranean. They develop new galleys that were probably based on Minoan models. The Mycenaean ships had seats with rowers and sails AND were steered by triangle rudders. Their ships, which were very large for the time, decisively influenced Archaic age vessels.

Conclusions

The Mycenaeans had many remarkable achievements in architecture, engineering, military tactics and shipping. These Bronze Age Greeks also helped to shape the evolution of later Greek culture, which has profoundly influenced the modern world. Sadly, some of their achievements have been lost to us. Yet nevertheless, it can still be confidently said that Mycenaean Greece was one of the cradles of civilization.

References

Kelder, Jorrit (2005). “Greece During the Late Bronze Age”. Journal of the Ancient Near East Society: Ex Oriente Lux. 39: 131–179.

Chadwick, J., 1976. The Mycenaean World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The Rise and Fall of the Mycenaeans, Classical Wisdom Litterae

If you want to learn more about the Mycenaeans, check out our latest, new-look edition of our magazine, Classical Wisdom Litterae. Get a subscription and learn more about these fascinating Bronze Age people HERE.

Posted in Culture, History, Homer, Language, Literature - No Comments

Tags: Ancient Greek Religion, Greco-Persian war, Homer, Linear B, Minoans, Mycenaeans

‘Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Ozymandias and Us

by Sean Kelly July 14, 2021

You probably know that quote, don’t you? Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem Ozymandias featured prominently in both promotion for the ultra-popular TV show Breaking Bad, and also in the acclaimed comic series Watchmen. Did you know it was written in response to the Ancient Greek historian Diodorus Siculus? His account of an inscription he read beneath a colossal statue group in an Egyptian temple directly inspired Shelley, who in turn has inspired countless others, leading to his poem popping up in all sorts of unexpected places.

It is a great contemporary example of how the Classical world comes down to us today. The perception can be that the Classics are sequestered away at elite universities, inaccessible to the world at large. Yet that’s not the truth; the Classics surround us, all the time, often in ways we don’t even realise.

Edith Hall, one of the UK’s foremost Classicists, details this in her new book with Henry Stead, A People’s History of Classics: Class and Greco-Roman Antiquity in Britain and Ireland 1689 to 1939. Her book focuses on the ways that the Classics have intersected with the daily lives of ordinary, working class people through the centuries. Although the title indicates a focus on Britain and Ireland, Hall’s real subject is Class, and how average, working class life has always been bound up with the Classics.

*Buy ‘A People’s History of Classics’ HERE*

If that piques your interest, Edith Hall will also be speaking live at our online Symposium this August. A major voice for the importance and relevance of the Classics, Edith will be giving her lecture ‘Ozymandias Since the Cold War’, as part of our theme, End of Empires and Fall of Nations. Edith is joined by a legitimate all-star line up of some of the world’s most celebrated Classicists. In keeping with the theme of Edith’s book, this talk is accessible to EVERYONE. The ticket price is entirely your choice! Find out more below…

Make sure to reserve your tickets TODAY.

We hope to see you in August!

Posted in Culture, Literature, Media, Uncategorized - No Comments

Tags: Breaking Bad, Diodorus Siculus, Edith Hall, Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Watchmen

Aristophanes: Utopia and Human Nature

by Visnja Bojovic July 22, 2020

Written by Visnja Bojovic, Contributing Writer, Classical Wisdom

Ever since there were people and places, there has been a desire for other, different people, and ideal, perfect places. This concept is called utopia, a word that has its origin in ancient Greek, as a compound of the word οὐ (ou, ”not”) and τόπος (topos, ”place”). Even though unmistakably Greek, this word was developed much later, in 1516 to be exact, by Thomas More.

In the same manner that the dreaming of a better world is almost as old as the world itself, puns are almost as old as the words themselves. Thus, when coming up with this concept of no-place, Sir More was playing with the word eu-topos, which meant ”a good place”. Coincidence? Let’s see.

Even though the concept of utopia, or utopian literature, was not invented by the Greeks as such, it was present in Greek thought and literature starting as early as in Homer’s works. (the land of Phaeacians in the Odyssey).

Claude Lorrain, Port Scene with the Departure of Odysseus from the Land of the Phaeacians (oil on canvas, 1646; Louvre, Paris)

The main characteristics of utopia are the lack of existential worries that occupy our minds every day, the lack of corruption and injustice, and, most importantly, its location that is remote either in the sense of space or time.

Thus, we have the so-called nostalgic utopia, such as the one found in Hesiod’s didactic poem Works and Days, where the distant past is referred to as golden and considered perfect and irretrievable. There are also completely fictional utopias, in invented lands with invented people (as the one in the Odyssey).

Another distinction, and the more important one if you ask me, is that of the utopias of reconstruction, and the utopias of escape. In the latter, a protagonist is sick of the actual world, and his only wish is to escape to another, typically, non-existent one. This kind of utopia does not have a goal to change the world or come up with a new one.

Portrait of the Greek poet Hesiod (ESIODVS) on the Monnus mosaic from Augusta Treverorum (Trier), end of the 3rd century CE.

In the former, on the other hand, as the name itself indicates, the author intends to reconstruct, or reinvent the world. The most well-known example of this is Plato’s ideal state in the Republic. Plato comes up with a whole new system of government and distribution of goods, where he implements a radical change of everything in favor of equality. However, as it turns out, ”all the animals are equal, but some are more equal than the others”. Thus, Plato gives the advantage to philosophers, who should be rulers, because they are wise and, as such, capable of governing the state perfectly.

So far, I have mentioned the main types of utopia that can be found in ancient Greek literature. However, we encounter complications when trying to classify all the utopias of one specific author into these categories. There were, and still are, many disputes regarding the goal of constructing the utopias of this author. As you’ve probably guessed, I am talking about Aristophanes, in whose works we can identify traces of the utopian concept.

These utopias tell us a lot about the problems that the Athens of Aristophanes’ time was facing, and there was quite a lot of them. For example, it was obvious that in Peace, where the main plot is a great desire for peace in Athens devastated by constant war and conflict, Aristophanes was trying to point out the pointlessness of wars and its disastrous effects. Similarly, in the Clouds, the criticism of sophistic teaching and the dangers of its popularity is fairly obvious.

Theatre of Dionysus, Athens — in Aristophanes’ time, the audience probably sat on wooden benches with earth foundations.

However, what I think is far more important, and far more profound is the implicit criticism that Aristophanes carefully implemented in his comedies, step by step as the plot advances.

Assembly Women (Ecclesiazusae)

In this comedy, the protagonists are women sick of men not governing the state properly and deciding to take matters into their own hands. Their leader is a woman named Praxagora, who introduces the idea of completely reversing the established order. She introduces the communism of property, where all the property was to be shared, and everyone was to be absolutely equal. All this sounds great in the beginning, but in the second part of the play, Praxagora mysteriously disappears, and human nature begins to take its toll.

Therefore, as soon as the new order is established, we can see that the only people willing to share are the ones who have nothing or very little to share and that even the ones who were against the new system are rushing to get their part of the cake.

Muse reading, Louvre.

Moreover, not only did Praxagora dictate that property was to be held in common, but that sex and family would be communal matters as well. This meant that the family was to be abandoned as the principal unit of society, and the children would belong to the state.

As for sex, the right to choose was to be given to the old and ugly to the detriment of the young and beautiful. Thus, we have a scene where a young couple wants to be together, but they are not able to do so, because a few old women are fighting over the young man. It soon becomes clear that the sexual desire needed for intercourse with a young person will be gone after all the desires of old people are fulfilled.

Birds

In Birds, we have two Athenian men fed up with life in Athens degraded in every sense by war and other problems. They are in search of Tereus, an old king who was transformed into a bird, to help them find a better place to live.

Vase with scene from Aristophanes’ Birds.

After some difficulties, they manage to form a city in the sky, along with other birds, and along with promises of everything opposite to Athenian customs, including the walls around the city. However, the first thing that is done in the new city is raising the walls. One of the Athenians goes outside of the city to guard it, while the other one, Pisthetaerus, stays and turns into a dictator who deems himself greater than Zeus.

The Ultimate Protagonist: Human Nature

Both of these comedies start as classic utopias with protagonists having strong desires to change the order of things in pursuit of establishing firm moral values. However, when they actually start doing it, human nature comes in as the most important protagonist and reverses the affairs either to their previous state, or an even worse one. Even though Aristophanes new that the world is far from ideal, he managed to show that the ideal is usually unreachable and that we have no choice but to operate inside of what we already have.

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Tags: Ancient Greek Comedy, Aristophanes, Hesiod, Homer, Homer's Odyssey, Phaeacians, The Odyssey, Thomas More, Utopia