Aristofane e il mare: aspetti economici, sociali, politici e militari

The paper aims at studying the presentation of the sea in Aristophanic comedies, both from the point of view of fishing and the fish trade (§ 1), and from the political and military point of view (§ 2). In all these different areas, there are no indications of any Aris- tophanes’ distrust of the maritime world, or of its ideological subordination to that of the land. Even if we admit that Aristophanes is close to conservative positions, we must conclude that this does not entail an ideological revulsion against the maritime dimension of the city. As it is well known, in his comedies (and in some of them in particular) Aristophanes’ exalts coun- tryside and peace; but, at the same time, his realist outlook makes him affirm that the τριήρεις καλαί (Av. 108) are protected by Athena (Eq. 1186) and that the rowers are the saviours of the city (Ach. 163). This view, far from being confused or contradictory, is a faithful and sincere mirror of the multifaceted reality of 5th century Athens, of which Aristophanes proves himself to be an attentive and incomparable interpreter.