Legend has it that when the Syracusan leader Dionysius wanted to study "the republic of the Athenians," Plato sent him the plays of Aristophanes.
Little is known about Aristophanes' life apart from his theatrical career. He was born circa 447 B.C. or 446 B.C., the son of one Philippos of the deme of Kydathenaion and the tribe Pandionis; he died probably between 386 B.C. and 380 B.C. By his twenties his hair had thinned or receded enough that his rivals could call him bald. He seems to have had landholdings on, or some other connection with, the island of Aigina, a connection that detractors and enemies exploited early in his career in an attempt to call his Athenian citizenship into question. He was twice prosecuted by a fellow demesman, the popular politician Kleon, for the political impropriety of two of his plays (Babylonians, 426 B.C., and Knights, 424 B.C.), but he was not convicted. Early in the fourth century B.C. he represented his tribe in the prestigious government position of councillor. Four comic poets of the fourth century—Araros, Philetairos, Philippos, and Nikostratos-are reputed in ancient sources to be his sons.
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