©Damen,
2021
Classical Drama
and Theatre
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Cleon's family business was tanning
leather and Paphlagonia (in northern Asia Minor) was famous among the ancient
Athenians for leather work. Thus, the allusion to Cleon—and the insult!—
would have escaped virtually no one in Aristophanes' audience. But why didn't
Aristophanes attack Cleon directly by name? He had not been reluctant to do so
in the past. Perhaps by making Cleon's character a foreigner and referring to
him only through an allusion to his family, Aristophanes means to return the insult
Cleon had recently leveled in court when he charged that Aristophanes did not
belong to a good Athenian clan.
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