When Gods Don't Appear: Divine Absence and Human Agency in Aristophanes

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dc.contributor.authorGiven, Johnen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-03T14:30:34Zen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-08-06T21:17:41Zen_US
dc.date.accessioned2011-05-17T14:06:37Z
dc.date.available2009-06-03T14:30:34Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-08-06T21:17:41Zen_US
dc.date.available2011-05-17T14:06:37Z
dc.date.issued2009en_US
dc.description.abstractSurprisingly few gods appear in the eleven surviving comedies of Aristophanes. This article examines what roles the gods do play when they are present. It further argues that humans with divine attributes often appear in lieu of the gods themselves. These humans together with the handful of gods who are present fall into the broad functional categories of helpers and opponents of the comic protagonist. Thee gods' absence is to be attributed to an Aristophanic conception of human agency, namely that humans in comedy, especially when compared to tragedy, have extraordinary control of their lives. A god's presence would be too great a threat to comic inventiveness.en_US
dc.format.extent20 p.en_US
dc.identifier.citationClassical World; 102:2 p. 107-127en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10342/1073en_US
dc.publisherEast Carolina Universityen_US
dc.subjectAristophanesen_US
dc.subjectGreek comedyen_US
dc.subjectGodsen_US
dc.titleWhen Gods Don't Appear: Divine Absence and Human Agency in Aristophanesen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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