Aristophanes Knights 1151

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

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Knights. 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

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

Translations (2)
Knights (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 1151 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.) — 1151 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 1167

ἐκ τῶν ὀλῶν τῶν ἐκ Πύλου μεμαγμένην.
The phrase τῶν ἐκ Πύλου refers specifically to the Athenian expeditionary force that landed at Pylos in 425 BCE and was subsequently trapped by the Spartans. The participle μεμαγμένην (perfect passive participle of μείγνυμι, 'to mix') is used here to describe the olives as having been 'mixed' or 'blended' with the provisions of the Pylos soldiers, a detail that relies on the audience's knowledge of the specific logistical hardship and the unique dietary circumstances of the trapped garrison, which became a stock topic of comic exaggeration regarding the scarcity of food in Athens during the later years of the war.

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Line 1179

καὶ χόλικος ἠνύστρου τε καὶ γαστρὸς τόμον.
The noun χόλικος (cholikos) is here used substantively to denote a 'choleric' or 'bile-like' person, a medicalized metaphor for a volatile temper characteristic of the Demos in this passage. This usage reflects the 5th-century BCE conflation of humoral pathology with political character, where the 'bile' (χολή) of the angry mob is personified as a distinct agent. The construction relies on the reader's familiarity with Hippocratic humoral theory to grasp the satirical weight of attributing a specific pathological condition to the collective body politic.

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Line 1185

ἐς τὰς τριήρεις ἐντερόνειαν ἡ θεός·
The verb ἐντερόνειαν (aorist subjunctive of ἐντεροῦμαι) is a rare hapax in Aristophanes, derived from ἔντερον ('intestine'). While the verb generally means 'to be sick' or 'to have an upset stomach,' here it is used with the preposition ἐς ('into') and the accusative plural τριήρεις ('triremes'). This construction is syntactically peculiar; the goddess (likely Athena or a personification of the fleet's spirit, though the context suggests a personification of the triremes themselves or the state's naval power) is being described as entering the triremes 'to be sick' or 'to cause sickness within them.' This likely refers to the plague or the general malaise affecting the Athenian fleet, a metaphorical personification where the disease is personified as a goddess entering the ships. The use of the subjunctive suggests a purpose or result clause, but the syntax is compressed, typical of Aristophanic comedy where grammatical regularity is often sacrificed for immediate visual or auditory impact.

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Line 1189

ἡ Τριτογενὴς γὰρ αὐτὸν ἐνετριτώνισεν.
The verb ἐνετριτώνισεν is a rare, trisyllabic denominal formation derived from τρίτων (the Triton, or specifically the Triton river in Boeotia, here used metonymically for the Tritonians or perhaps the Tritonian goddess Athena, depending on the specific scholia tradition). In this context, Aristophanes employs a verbal play on the noun Τριτογενής (born third/from the head of Zeus/Athena), creating a pun where the subject (Athena) 'Tritonizes' the object. The verb is not found elsewhere in extant Attic literature, making its morphology and semantic force (likely 'to treat as a Tritonian' or 'to make third-born') a significant crux for understanding the specific political or theological satire aimed at the character being addressed.