Set your class racing to find copies of Aristophanes’s plays with an engaging introduction. A well-designed video helps college-level viewers who are gaining an understanding of ancient Greek history learn that the social commentary in Aristophanes’s comedies served ancient Athens in much the same way as contemporary society is served by op eds. Aristophanes’s use of fictional characters to parody current events is well-explained. 

Concepts

dramatic plays, comedy, ancient greece, social commentary, politics, imagination

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Pre-teach vocabulary related to ancient Greek drama
• After telling scholars that Aristophanes (c. 450–388 BCE) wrote plays about current events and reviewing a timeline of events in ancient Greek history, invite them to predict Aristophanes's subjects

Classroom Considerations

• Share the transcript with students who will benefit from seeing, as well as hearing, the words
• Review prior to use due to sexual references at 1:03 and 3:00; an image at 2:02 that strongly resembles Donald Trump in the role of a powerful Athenian mocked by the playwright; and reference to defecation at 3:52
  
  

Pros

• Cross-curricular connections to literature
• Images and voice over combine to successfully communicate the nature of Aristophanes’s sarcastic, no-holds-barred comedies
• Introduces pupils to social commentary through drama

Cons

• None