Eupolis' Demes and Athenian politics in 413–412 BCE

Abstract

Eupolis' Demes certainly dates to between 417 BCE and the poet's death, generally put in 411 BCE. For almost two centuries, it was unanimously assigned to 412 BCE, after the failure of the Sicilian Expedition and the Spartan occupation of Deceleia, but before the oligarchic coup of 411 BCE, allowing the comedy to be read as a public response to a series of enormous political and military crises. This dating has been challenged by Ian Storey (who argues that Demes belongs in 417 or perhaps 416 BCE, before the fight of Alcibiades into exile and the Sicilian Expedition), and by Mario Telò and Leone Porciani (who put it in 410 BCE, after the overthrow of the democracy in 411 BCE). I begin with brief remarks about what is known about the on-stage action of Demes. I then argue that the alternative dates for the play face decisive objections, and that Demes is better kept in 412 BCE. Finally, I consider the sort of popular sentiment Eupolis' play must have been exploiting or echoing when it was conceived in 413 BCE.