Aristophanes Clouds A Religious Commentary On The...

Aristophanes’ Clouds, is a religious commentary on the changing philosophical climate in Greece. This is exemplified when Socrates, the teacher of Sophistry remarks, â€Å"†¦ Zeus has been dethroned by Vertigo† (Aristophanes 830). Aristophanes depicts two different Greek ideologies clashing together causing an ideological shift within Athens. This shift is shown through the tension between different traditions, humans falsely redefining cosmic roles, and reconciliation of previous beliefs. These conflicts show that Greek theology is being redefined by a Sophist revolution that causes humans to make their own false reality with Clouds or Vertigo replacing the true gods. A large aspect of Aristophanes’ Clouds illustrates the tension between the old traditional ways that are steeped in divine law, and Sophistry, a new skeptical individualist movement. In the opening scenes of Clouds, Aristophanes creates an image of a lax society that has been disconnected from the austere piety that previously defined Athenian society. Pheidippides is a reflection of what Athens has become; an impious state that ranks the wants of the individual before anything else. Pheidippides only interest is to maintain his wealthy lifestyle regardless of the impact it has on his father. Pheidippides states that â€Å"†¦ Uncle Megacles won’t leave me horseless. I’ll go to him and pay you no mind!† (Aristophanes 125-26). Pheidippides shows that he does not care for the old tradition of piety to one’s family and is