The Lord of the Wings: Political Leadership and the Rhetorical Manipulation of Athenian Law in Aristophanes' Birds

Abstract

My specific purpose here is to provide a comprehensive reading of juridical references in Aristophanes´ comedy Birds (414 BCE). My point of departure is the well-stated conclusion that the protagonist of the play, Peisetaerus —not surprisingly named as he who persuades his companions, becomes an outstanding master of rhetoric, who smoothly manages to use his logos to convince birds, gods and mortals about his own ruling primacy. What I intend to show here is that this triumph is not only achieved by the mere power of language, but can be explained more specifically as the result of a well-thought legal manipulation. A close reading of the play —as I will try to demonstrate— can illustrate how Peisetaerus is capable of adjusting Attic law to different situations, both bringing and pushing back at the same time his personal experience as a former citizen of the Athenian imperial polis. By means of marriage and sucession, conventional law will serve to subvert the power of Zeus and to achieve in the hands of the comic hero the colonization of the Olympian territories.