Aristophanes Clouds 985

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Clouds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

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

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Νεφέλαι Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 889-1104 focus
Translations (2)
Clouds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Comedies of Aristophanes, Vol. I. Hickie, William James, translator. Bohn: London, 1853.) — 985b 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.) — 985b 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

985. mvp-tlg0019-tlg003-sanjaya-com-eng1-72

Line 985

καὶ Κηκείδου καὶ Βουφονίων.
The text presents a crux regarding the identity of these two figures. 'Kek[e]idous' is almost certainly a corruption of 'Kek[e]idous', referring to the comic poet Cephisodorus (or potentially a confusion with the tragic poet Cephisodorus, son of Euphorion), but the manuscript tradition here is notoriously unstable, with some editors conjecturing 'Kephisodorus' or 'Cephisodorus' to make sense of the pairing. 'Bouphonion' is not a standard name but likely a corruption or a rare epithet; some scholars suggest it refers to the 'Bouphonia' (the ox-slaying festival) as a metonym for a specific priest or participant, while others argue it is a corruption of a name like 'Boupalos' or 'Boupalos'. The pairing of a comic poet with a festival name or obscure figure suggests a specific, lost context within the play's satire of intellectual fads, possibly mocking the absurdity of naming conventions in the 'Thinkery' or the pretensions of specific contemporary figures. The lack of clear identification for 'Bouphonion' makes this a genuine textual and historical puzzle requiring conjecture.