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The Knights

Aristophanes

First produced at the Lenaia in 424 BCE, The Knights is a ferocious satire on the Athenian demagogue Cleon, who had recently risen to dominance after the death of Pericles. Aristophanes represents Cleon as a Paphlagonian slave manipulating a doddering Demos — the personified Athenian people — and has him ousted by an even more vulgar sausage-seller. It is the fullest surviving attack on popular political corruption in ancient Greek literature.

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Contents

1. The Knights