Aristophanes Knights 242

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.) — 242 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.) — 242 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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ἅσπερ Εὐκράτης ἔφευγεν εὐθὺ τῶν κυρηβίων.
The phrase τῶν κυρηβίων refers to the 'corybantes,' a group of ecstatic priests associated with the worship of Cybele. In the context of the *Knights*, the Sausage-Seller (Agonothetes) is comparing the behavior of the demagogue Cleon to the frenzied, drum-beating rituals of these priests. The term κυρηβίων is a plural genitive, indicating the source or direction of the action (fleeing 'from' the corybantes), which alludes to the chaotic, frenzied state that the character is supposedly escaping or perhaps ironically mimicking. This specific allusion to the corybantes is a deliberate rhetorical device, as the corybantes were known for their wild, ecstatic dances and drumming, which Aristophanes uses to satirize the perceived madness of political leaders.

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ὡσπερεὶ γέροντας ἡμᾶς καὶ κοβαλικεύεται;
The verb κοβαλικεύεται is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanic comedy and is unique in the surviving corpus of ancient Greek literature. Derived from κόβαλος (a type of comic mask or a specific type of rustic dancer/actor), the verb denotes the act of acting the part of a kobalos or behaving in a grotesque, buffoonish manner. Its use here by the Chorus to describe the actions of the Sausage-Seller (or the Paphlagonian, depending on the specific staging context of this line) suggests a specific theatrical allusion to the physical, often acrobatic and degrading, movements associated with the kobalos character, rather than a generic term for mockery. The form is deponent in the present, though the root implies an active performance of a role.

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καὶ τέμαχος, οὗ Περικλέης οὐκ ἠξιώθη πώποτε.
The verb ἠξιώθη (aorist passive of ἀξιοῦμαι) here carries the specific sense of 'deem worthy of' or 'consider fit for,' a usage common in Attic prose but distinctively ironic in Aristophanic comedy. The sentence implies a hyperbolic contrast: the piece of meat (or perhaps the opportunity) is of such high quality or rarity that even Pericles, the preeminent statesman and patron of the arts, was never deemed worthy to receive it. This reflects the comic trope of elevating mundane or grotesque subjects to the level of high political discourse, while simultaneously mocking the perceived exclusivity or unapproachability of Periclean Athens.