I filosofi a teatro? Fanno ridere. Le "Nuvole" di Aristofane

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how the Greek comedy of 5th and 4th century constructs the character of the philosopher, that becomes a typical role of New Comedy. The prototype is the Socrates of Aristophanes’ Clouds, who has indeed some realistic connotations (as we can infer from the works of Plato and Xenophon) but combines also caricatural elements drawn from comical portraits of scientists and other intellectuals (Thales, Meton, Protagoras). Aristophanes’ Socrates is a funny sophist, who looks up to heaven (to the aetheric inconsistency of the clouds) but doesn’t forget to point at more material satisfactions. After the Clouds, and having this play as a model, Greek comedy develops the type character of the hungry philosopher, who pretends to be virtuous but wants only to fill his belly.