Socrates in Old Comedy

Several comedies rehearsed from 430 to 410 BCE deal with “education” (paideia). It has been rightly observed that these plays form a “subgenre” of Old Comedy. At least seven plays by six comedians (Cratinus, Teleclides, Callias, Eupolis, Amipsias, and Plato Comicus) target “wisdom” (sophia) and those who teach or acquire it, the “sophists” or “thinkers” (sophistai or phrontistai). Such intellectuals, or followers of them, form the choirs of five comedies that center around the matter of teaching and acquiring a new kind of wisdom. Such wisdom is ridiculed by the comedians as unheard of and weird. It consists of four distinct subjects that were not encompassed in traditional paideia, namely: A) The study of nature; B) Non-official religiosity; C) Fraudulent lyrical and rhetorical skills; D) Asceticism and poverty. All of these four subjects are core features of Aristophanes’ portrayal of Socrates. All other playwrights discuss A) without any reference to Socrates and his pupils. Callias is the only comedian who indirectly relates B) to Socrates. C) and D), on the contrary, appear to be unique features of Socrates, not only according to Aristophanes but also according to the other abovementioned comedians. In my paper, I deal with these four subjects, and show how they are related to the Socrates, and the Socratic features, portrayed by Old Comedy.