"A Companion to Aristophanes goes beyond simply providing basic reference material, by incorporating several innovative features: the editors emphasize material culture and performance context beyond any similar handbook of ancient drama; they situate each of Aristophanes' surviving plays within a discussion of key themes relevant to the study of Aristophanes' whole oeuvre; and they present approaches to Aristophanes through criticism, performance, translation, and teaching in order to show the way forward for future work on Greek comedy and to demonstrate the relevance of Aristophanes to modern life. The book also includes a "critical debates" section, focused on the central issue of politics in Aristophanes' plays; by presenting conflicting viewpoints in this section, rather than simply summarizing past scholarship, this Companion illustrates the vitality of contemporary engagement with Aristophanes"-- Provided by publisher.