Aristophanes Acharnians 1174-1226

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

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Acharnians. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1906.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ἀχαρνῆς (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.)

Translations (2)
Acharnians (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; Liveright, 192?). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 1174 focus
English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 1174 focus

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

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Line 1174

ὦ δμῶες οἳ κατʼ οἶκόν ἐστε Λαμάχου,
The vocative address 'ὦ δμῶες' (slaves/servants) directed at the chorus of old men is a deliberate piece of comic irony and social inversion. While the chorus members are technically free citizens of Athens, Dicaeopolis, the protagonist, addresses them as 'slaves' to highlight their subservience to the war-monger Lamachus and to mock the military hierarchy. This is not a literal designation of status but a rhetorical device characteristic of Old Comedy, where the protagonist often degrades or elevates characters to suit the satirical tone. The specific reference to 'Lamachus' (a real historical Athenian general known for his bellicosity) grounds the joke in contemporary political satire, contrasting the old men's domestic setting ('κατʼ οἶκόν ἐστε') with the general's martial reputation.

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Line 1179

καὶ τὸ σφυρὸν παλίνορρον ἐξεκόκκισεν,
The compound verb ἐξεκόκκισεν is an intensive formation of κόκκα (a fragment, chip, or splinter), likely derived from the noun κόκκος (a grain or seed, but here referring to a small fragment of bone). In this context, it describes the shattering of the tibia into multiple small pieces, a specific medical description of a compound fracture that Aristophanes uses for comic effect, highlighting the brutality of the injury inflicted by the character's club.

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Line 1201

τὸ περιπεταστὸν κἀπιμανδαλωτόν.
The adjectives περιπεταστὸν and ἐπιμανδαλωτόν are hapax legomena in the Aristophanic corpus (and indeed in extant Greek literature), coined here for the comic effect of describing a 'fence' (peripetasma) that is 'thrown over' (peripetastón) and 'manually bound' (epimandalōtón). The first term is a rare verbal adjective derived from περιπίπτω, here likely implying a makeshift or flimsy structure, while the second, from the obscure verb μανδαλόω (to bind with a manes or strap), underscores the improvisational nature of the stage property being mocked. Their juxtaposition exemplifies Aristophanes' technique of creating compound adjectives from verbal stems to generate grotesque or absurd imagery, a device particularly common in his descriptions of theatrical props or rustic objects.

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Line 1221

καὶ σκοτοβινιῶ
The verb σκοτοβινιῶ is a hapax legomenon in the surviving corpus of Aristophanes, formed by the compound of σκότος (darkness) and a verb root likely derived from βιν- (related to βινίζω, 'to be drunk' or 'to stagger'). In this context, the character Dicaeopolis is not merely stating that he is drunk, but specifically that he is stumbling through the darkness, a vivid, onomatopoeic coinage characteristic of Aristophanic comedy that fuses physical disorientation with the literal darkness of the pre-dawn setting.