COSTUME IN THE COMEDIES OF ARISTOPHANES This book offers an interpretation of the handling of costume in the plays of the fifth-century comic poet Aristophanes. Drawing on both textual and material evidence from the fifth- and fourth-century Greek world, it exam- ines three layers of costume: the bodysuit worn by the actors, the characters’ clothes, and the additional layering of disguise. A chapter is also devoted to the inventive costumes of the comic chorus. Going beyond describing what costumes looked like, the book focuses instead on the dynamics of costume as it is manipulated by characters in the performance of plays. The book argues that costume is used competitively, as characters handle each other’s costumes and poets vie for status using costume. This argument is informed by performance studies and by analyses of gender and the body. Gwendolyn Compton-Engle is Associate Professor of Classics at John Carroll University. She has taught at Colgate University and St. Olaf College. She has published several articles on Aristophanes, including one that was awarded the Gildersleeve Prize from the American Journal of Philology in 2003. COSTUME IN THE COMEDIES OF ARISTOPHANES GWENDOLYN COMPTON-ENGLE John Carroll University 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107083790 © Gwendolyn Compton-Engle 2015 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015 Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Compton-Engle, Gwendolyn, 1970– Costume in the comedies of Aristophanes / Gwendolyn Compton-Engle, John Caroll University. pages cm ISBN 978-1-107-08379-0 (hardback) 1. Aristophanes – Dramatic production. 2. Costume – Greece. 3. Greek drama (Comedy) I. Title. PA3879.C66 2015 792.02∙60938–dc23 2014047359 ISBN 978-1-107-08379-0 Hardback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. To Tron and Mia CONTENTS List of Figures and Table page ix Abbreviations xi Acknowledgments xiii 1 INTRODUCTION: COMIC COSTUME IN ACTION 1 Influences and Approach 1 Methodology and Evidence 3 Four Basic Types of Costume Manipulation 8 2 THE COMIC BODY AS COSTUME 16 Envisioning the Comic Body 17 The Male Comic Body 17 The Female Comic Body 28 The Tragic Body on the Comic Stage 38 Some Uses of the Body in Extant Plays 40 The Body Impolitic: Knights 45 Revealing the Comic Body: Lysistrata 48 3 CLOAKS, SHOES, AND SOCIETAL REDRESS 59 The Essential Wardrobe of a Comic Character 60 You Can Dress Him Up But . . . : Wasps 67 The Case of the Stolen Cloaks: Assemblywomen 74 Rags to Riches: Wealth 82 4 DISGUISE, GENDER, AND THE POET 88 Success and Masculinity: Acharnians 90 Failure and Emasculation: Women at the Thesmophoria 94 Image of a Failed Female Disguise: The St. Agata Antigone 102 Exchange, Status, and the Poets: Frogs 104 vii viii CONTENTS 5 ANIMAL COSTUMES AND CHORAL SPECTACLE 110 Visual Evidence for Nonhuman Choruses 110 Choral Costume in Attic Comedy 124 Beaks and Wings: Birds 129 Beaks and Spits 130 Cloaks and Wings 137 6 CONCLUSION 144 Notes 149 Bibliography 179 Index 193