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- Title
Political Nosology in Aristophanes's Wasps.
- Authors
Hobe, Sara
- Abstract
In my paper, I explore how Aristophanes uses Hippocratic imagery in his Wasps for political critique. Rather than any politician, Philocleon's affliction of jury-mania itself stars as the antagonist, setting the stage for other medical subject matter in the comedy. Wasps alludes in particular to the Hippocratic theory that internal disease results from a confluence of factors (such as bodily constitution and environment), rather than a single agent, and that its symptoms manifest gradually, but often in surprising ways. By thematizing these ideas from contemporary medicine, Aristophanes suggests that Athenian corruption is multifaceted, complex, and lacking a definitive aetiology.
- Subjects
NOSOLOGY; ARISTOPHANES, ca. 446 B.C.-ca. 386 B.C.; PHYSICIANS' oaths; CORRUPTION; ETIOLOGY of diseases
- Publication
Illinois Classical Studies, 2018, Vol 43, Issue 2, p351
- ISSN
0363-1923
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5406/illiclasstud.43.2.0351