Athens, fifth century, B.C., harbored a citizenry whose intellectual curiosity and vitality was exceeded only by their physical vigor and Rabelaisian appetite. The typical Athenian was equally at home with soaring tragedy and side-splitting farce-in this he resembled Shakespeare's groundling. His imagination and receptivity knew no bounds. Nothing human was alien to him. Not even the gods were above re-proach. There were no sacred cows.
Through this hurly-burly, seething city stalked Aristophanes: a man whose jaundiced eye encompassed every phase of Athenian life-and found each wanting. Current politics and morality were his chief targets. But there was ample room for withering blasts at literary fashions, educational malpractices, bogus economic theories, legal chicanery, and so much more.
The comedies of Aristophanes mirror the Greek world in all its complexities. Court-jester, moral crusader, social uplifter, philosopher-these are but some of the roles he played so magnificently. But primarily he was a poet: a man whose bolts of laughter still strike home in the hearts and minds of men.