Bloody Hilarious: Animal Sacrifice in Aristophanic Comedy

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand the portrayals of animal sacrifice in the Old Comedy of classical Greece, a genre commonly considered for vulgarity, personal invective, and roots far removed from sacred acts. Recognizing that even fictional representations of sacrifice are based on real religious ritual, and that Old Comedy had a responsibility to present to the polis a reflection of its own attitudes and behaviors, comic sacrifice scenes become a valuable mode of insight on a culture that we struggle to understand through limited evidence. Approaching the plays with this in mind uncovers a richer and more complex relationship between comedy and sacrifice than might initially be expected.

Before being able to appreciate the meaning of sacrifice scenes in the plays, the first step is to establish a relationship between comedy and ritual. This study considers a progression of ideas around the identity of Greek drama, beginning with Aristotle’s Poetics and moving through the centuries as scholars identify the likely formative influences of comedy. After establishing comedy as a valid participant in the religious discourse of classical Athens, this study considers a progression of theories about the religious forces behind animal sacrifice as well as how the Greeks incorporated and expressed those forces. From Mircea Eliade’s concept of the sacred to Walter Burkert’s use of sacrifice to peer into the Greek psyche, we come to understand the interplay of ritual and performance as a culture communicates its own beliefs and attitudes.

Among the extant comedies of Aristophanes, Frogs, Peace, and Birds receive major focus for their provocative use of sacrifice and related ritual behavior. Encounters with ritual practices move the protagonists toward their end goals, and control over animal sacrifice is an indicator of each character’s power. Sacrifice in each of these cases is presented not as a reverent act but a tool to be manipulated to achieve human aims. Aristophanes is using comedy’s unique license to express a more practical understanding of the human benefits of sacrifice and to demonstrate the shifting attitudes of the polis, away from reliance on traditional models and toward a preference for human action.