The Wasps

The Wasps
The Chorus in The Wasps comprises elderly jurors who briefly resemble wasps in their behaviour (Painting: 'The Jury' by John Morgan 1861, Bucks County Museum, England).

The Dramatis Personae in ancient comedy depends on interpretation of textual evidence. This list is based on David Barrett's translation.
Written byAristophanes
ChorusWasps (old men)
Boys
Characters
  • Anticleon (Bdelycleon) a young Athenian
  • Procleon (Philocleon) his father
  • Sosias their household slave
  • Xanthias another household slave
  • First Dog
  • A reveller
  • A baking-woman
  • A citizen

Silent Roles

  • Midas household slave
  • Phryx household slave
  • Masyntias household slave
  • Second Dog (Labes)
  • Dardanis flute girl
  • Chaerephon the philosopher
  • Witnesses brought by the Citizen
  • Cooking utensils witnesses at trial of Second Dog
  • Puppies children to Second Dog
  • Revellers
  • Three sons of Carcinus
Settingbefore house of Anticleon

The Wasps (Classical Greek: Σφῆκες, romanized: Sphēkes) is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, during Athens' short-lived respite from the Peloponnesian War and shortly before the death of Cleon.

The Wasps follows a son's attempt to stop his father from constantly serving jury duties as it is detrimental to his father's health. It also serves as a parody of Cleon; a figure Aristophanes was publicly critical of. He also ridicules the law courts, one of the institutions that provided Cleon his power. The play has been thought to exemplify the dramatic style of Greek Old Comedy.

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