Socrates – Aristophanes – Euripides
ISSS Regional Conference
Verona, June 19-21, 2024
Contributions on 5th century evidence about Socrates are rare in scholarship. Work has been done on the
connections between Socrates and Aristophanes (mostly dwelling on how Clouds impacts on Socratic
literature, and especially on Plato) as well as between Socrates and Euripides (since Bruno Snell’s seminal
article of 1948). Scholars have focused on specific “Socratic” features and ideas that can be identified in
Aristophanes and/or Euripides (such as irony, maieutics, elenchus, rhetoric, asceticism, and moral
intellectualism). Later biographical sources mention the strict liaison apparently existing between the tragedian
and the philosopher, portrayed as an enthusiast fan of Euripidean tragedy by Aelian (VH 2.13), but depicted as
a critical spectator by Diogenes Laertius (2.33).
A fact to which scholarship has so far paid little attention to, is that first-hand evidence about Socrates and
Euripides (on which later evidence mostly relies) is to be found in Old Comedy (Telecleides 41 and 42 KA,
and Callias 15 KA), and especially in Aristophanes (cf. Clouds I 392 KA and Frogs 1491-9), as well as in the
first-generation Socratic Aeschines of Sphettus (P.Oxy. 2889-2890). The representation of Euripides in
Aristophanes’ Frogs displays a set of qualities the tragedian shares with Socrates (as well as with some of the
5th-century Sophists such as Gorgias and Protagoras). On the other hand, Old Comedy and Socratic literature
explicitly mention poetic abilities of Socrates that could rely on a common ground between him, Euripides,
and Aristophanes (Eupolis 395 KA, Plat. Phaed. 60b-61b and Phaedr. 243a-b, DL 2.42, Ath. Deipn. 14.628f,
as well as Plato’s and Xenophon’s Symposia). Religious features (in some cases related to an Orphic
background) can be spotted in some of Euripides’ characters, Aristophanes’ depictions of intellectuals, and
throughout Socratic literature. Scholars have detected ‘paracomic’ clues in Euripidean drama which might be
related to Aristophanes: specific scenes (such as Pentheus’ disguise in Bacchae, and other passages). On the
the other hand, has been observed that various parts of Clouds have a ‘tragicomic’, if not altogether a ‘paratragic’
tone. In fact, tragic and comic elements are common in Plato and Xenophon, who both explicitly or implicitly
relate to Aristophanes and Euripides in their works.
The aim of the conference is to investigate all these connections. Papers will show how the representations of
Socrates, Aristophanes and Euripides (and/or ideas related to them) featured in Old Comedy, in Euripides’
dramas and in Socratic Literature, relate to each other. Proposals on ‘biangulations’ – or even better the
‘triangulation’ – between these intellectuals, texts, and ideas will be welcome (in any of the ISSS languages:
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese).
Depending on the number of proposals and/or the readiness to travel to Verona, selected speakers will be
either invited to Verona (for a 30 min paper), or to a Zoom event (for a 20 min paper), which will be moderated
by the organizers. We plan a volume encompassing a selection of papers from both events.
Invited speakers:
Anna Beltrametti, Andrea Capra, Marie-Laurence Desclos, Andrew Ford, Richard Hunter, Olimpia Imperio,
Marie-Pierre Noël, Mauro Tulli, Bernhard Zimmermann.
Organization:
Rossella Saetta Cottone (CNRS Luis Robin, Paris), Andrea Rodighiero (Verona, Dipartimento di Culture e
Civiltà), Alessandro Stavru (Verona, Dipartimento di Scienze Umane).
You are invited to submit an abstract (max 250 words) in any of the ISSS languages and a short CV to:
Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!; Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!; Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!.
Submission deadline is October 1, 2023.
International Society for Socratic Studies
Verona, June 19-21, 2024
Contributions on 5th century evidence about Socrates are rare in scholarship. Work has been done on the
connections between Socrates and Aristophanes (mostly dwelling on how Clouds impacts on Socratic
literature, and especially on Plato) as well as between Socrates and Euripides (since Bruno Snell’s seminal
article of 1948). Scholars have focused on specific “Socratic” features and ideas that can be identified in
Aristophanes and/or Euripides (such as irony, maieutics, elenchus, rhetoric, asceticism, and moral
intellectualism). Later biographical sources mention the strict liaison apparently existing between the tragedian
and the philosopher, portrayed as an enthusiast fan of Euripidean tragedy by Aelian (VH 2.13), but depicted as
a critical spectator by Diogenes Laertius (2.33).
A fact to which scholarship has so far paid little attention to, is that first-hand evidence about Socrates and
Euripides (on which later evidence mostly relies) is to be found in Old Comedy (Telecleides 41 and 42 KA,
and Callias 15 KA), and especially in Aristophanes (cf. Clouds I 392 KA and Frogs 1491-9), as well as in the
first-generation Socratic Aeschines of Sphettus (P.Oxy. 2889-2890). The representation of Euripides in
Aristophanes’ Frogs displays a set of qualities the tragedian shares with Socrates (as well as with some of the
5th-century Sophists such as Gorgias and Protagoras). On the other hand, Old Comedy and Socratic literature
explicitly mention poetic abilities of Socrates that could rely on a common ground between him, Euripides,
and Aristophanes (Eupolis 395 KA, Plat. Phaed. 60b-61b and Phaedr. 243a-b, DL 2.42, Ath. Deipn. 14.628f,
as well as Plato’s and Xenophon’s Symposia). Religious features (in some cases related to an Orphic
background) can be spotted in some of Euripides’ characters, Aristophanes’ depictions of intellectuals, and
throughout Socratic literature. Scholars have detected ‘paracomic’ clues in Euripidean drama which might be
related to Aristophanes: specific scenes (such as Pentheus’ disguise in Bacchae, and other passages). On the
the other hand, has been observed that various parts of Clouds have a ‘tragicomic’, if not altogether a ‘paratragic’
tone. In fact, tragic and comic elements are common in Plato and Xenophon, who both explicitly or implicitly
relate to Aristophanes and Euripides in their works.
The aim of the conference is to investigate all these connections. Papers will show how the representations of
Socrates, Aristophanes and Euripides (and/or ideas related to them) featured in Old Comedy, in Euripides’
dramas and in Socratic Literature, relate to each other. Proposals on ‘biangulations’ – or even better the
‘triangulation’ – between these intellectuals, texts, and ideas will be welcome (in any of the ISSS languages:
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese).
Depending on the number of proposals and/or the readiness to travel to Verona, selected speakers will be
either invited to Verona (for a 30 min paper), or to a Zoom event (for a 20 min paper), which will be moderated
by the organizers. We plan a volume encompassing a selection of papers from both events.
Invited speakers:
Anna Beltrametti, Andrea Capra, Marie-Laurence Desclos, Andrew Ford, Richard Hunter, Olimpia Imperio,
Marie-Pierre Noël, Mauro Tulli, Bernhard Zimmermann.
Organization:
Rossella Saetta Cottone (CNRS Luis Robin, Paris), Andrea Rodighiero (Verona, Dipartimento di Culture e
Civiltà), Alessandro Stavru (Verona, Dipartimento di Scienze Umane).
You are invited to submit an abstract (max 250 words) in any of the ISSS languages and a short CV to:
Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!; Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!; Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist vor Spambots geschützt! Zur Anzeige muss JavaScript eingeschaltet sein!.
Submission deadline is October 1, 2023.
International Society for Socratic Studies