Comedy and Religion in Classical Athens Narratives of Religious Experiences in Aristophanes' Wealth

This book opens up a new perspective on Aristophanic drama and its relationship to Greek religion. It focuses on the comedy Wealth, whose fantasy of universal enrichment is structured upon a rich and largely unexplored framework of traditional stories of Greek religious experiences, such as oracles, miracle cures, and the introduction of new gods. The book examines the form and function of these stories, and explores how the playwright adapts them for his own comic purposes, grounding his comic fantasy on stories of philanthropic divinities who dependably respond to the needs of their worshippers. The collaboration of these deities, who act in tandem with their worshippers, achieves the comic fantasy. Francisco Barrenechea also addresses the larger question of how comedy participated in the religion of its time by imagining and dramatizing beliefs, and reveals the salutary bond that can exist between humor and religion in general.

1. Numinous wealth; 2. An Apollonian beginning; 3. A healing story; 4. A household shrine; 5. A new god arrives; Conclusion: comic miracles.

Francisco Barrenechea is Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research interests include ancient Greek drama, as well as its reception in the Hispanic world. Among his publications are articles on stories of Greek miracle cures, the reception of Greek tragedy in Mexico, fragmentary plays, and Latin epic. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Center for Hellenic Studies and the Loeb Classical Library Foundation.