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Who is the only writer of Greek comedies whose plays are still known to exist today?

User Akira Kido
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Final answer:

Aristophanes is the only playwright from ancient Greece whose comedic works still exist today, with plays like Lysistrata. His works are characterized by satirical content that criticizes social and political aspects of his time.

Step-by-step explanation:

The only writer of Greek comedies whose plays are still known to exist today is Aristophanes. Born in 448 BCE and passing in 388 BCE, Aristophanes was a master of Old Comedy, a genre which flourished in the theater of ancient Greece. His creative works often involved satirical social and political commentary, brilliantly intertwining comic elements from folk traditions with contemporary politics. Lysistrata is perhaps his most renowned play, where the women of Athens instigate a sex strike to force an end to war. Out of many playwrights from the period, only eleven texts of Aristophanes have survived, securing his legacy as a principal figure in the history of comedy.

While other significant playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides developed tragedy, no other comic playwright's body of work has survived in completeness like that of Aristophanes. His influence even extended to the Roman culture as they adapted Greek comedic traditions to their own, giving rise to notable Roman playwrights such as Plautus and Terence, who excelled in the adapted genre of fabula palliata (Roman comedy).

User Thomas Albright
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