Aristophanes, The Storks

Ian Storey (Trent University)

Ed. by Jonathan Burgess, University of Toronto
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Eleni Bozia (University of Florida), Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

Dates

First circulation or publication -399

Places

Ancient Greece (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Comedy
Play

Resources

Although we possess only fourteen fragments (K.-A. III.2 444-457) of this lost comedy, there are some points of interest for the student. First, Storks belongs to Aristophanes’ later years. After the production of Aristophanes’ masterpiece of 405 (Frogs) we enter something of a wasteland, with only Assembly-Women (ca. 392) and Wealth (388) extant, as well as the evidence for two later plays produced by his son in the mid-380s, which were recognised as more in the spirit of later comedy (Aiolosikon and Kokalos). The mention of Neokleides (F 454), a political figure and comic target at Assembly-Women 254, 398ff. and at Wealth 665ff., and that of Patrokles (cf.Wealth 84), shows that Storks belongs to the 390s and thus adds to our knowledge of late Aristophanes. Aristotle F 628 (Production Lists) says that Storks was produced...

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1032 words

Citation: Storey, Ian. "The Storks". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 March 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13327, accessed 09 June 2026.]

Aristophanes, The Storks

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Genres and Modes

Resources

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