Files
Abstract
In this thesis, I show how Aristophanes creates new realities in his plays, the Birds, Clouds, and Peace, by presenting a new theogony, a new cosmography, and new customs for the characters in the plays. In all three of these plays, the characters attempt to solve a problem, discover the traditional, Olympian gods are unable to help, and so rely on their own abilities. They discount the Olympian gods, create their own gods (a new theogony), and therefore they change the boundaries between mortals and divine. Their new gods are closer to mortals physically and they now commune directly with one another. Aristophanes reorders the structure of the world (a new cosmography) through the new gods. Finally, new customs are established in these new worlds which overturn the old customs, though not always for the better.