Aristophanes' play Clouds

E12016

ancient Greek comedy play satirical play

Aristophanes' play "Clouds" is an ancient Greek comedy that satirically portrays Socrates and the intellectual trends of classical Athens, especially the Sophists and new philosophical education.

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All labels observed (7)

Label	Occurrences
The Clouds	12
Aristophanes criticizes the play in his later work for not winning first prize	1
Aristophanes' Clouds	1
Aristophanes' play Clouds canonical	1
Aristophanes' surviving comedies	1
The Clouds (423 BC version)	1
Νεφέλαι (The Clouds)	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T117686 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Aristophanes' play Clouds
Context triple: [Socrates, associatedWith, Aristophanes' play Clouds]

A. Apology of Socrates
Apology of Socrates is a Platonic dialogue that presents Socrates’ defense speech at his trial in Athens, exploring themes of justice, wisdom, and the examined life.
B. La Mort de Socrate
La Mort de Socrate is the original French title of Jacques-Louis David’s famous 1787 Neoclassical painting depicting the philosopher Socrates calmly accepting his death by hemlock.
C. Crito
Crito is an ancient Athenian friend and devoted follower of Socrates, best known from Plato’s dialogues for urging Socrates to escape his death sentence.
D. Phaedo
Phaedo is a Platonic dialogue that recounts the final hours and philosophical discussions of Socrates before his execution.
E. Socrates
Socrates was a classical Athenian philosopher renowned as a founder of Western philosophy, known for his method of questioning and his trial and execution in Athens.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Aristophanes' play Clouds
Target entity description: Aristophanes' play "Clouds" is an ancient Greek comedy that satirically portrays Socrates and the intellectual trends of classical Athens, especially the Sophists and new philosophical education.

A. Apology of Socrates
Apology of Socrates is a Platonic dialogue that presents Socrates’ defense speech at his trial in Athens, exploring themes of justice, wisdom, and the examined life.
B. La Mort de Socrate
La Mort de Socrate is the original French title of Jacques-Louis David’s famous 1787 Neoclassical painting depicting the philosopher Socrates calmly accepting his death by hemlock.
C. Crito
Crito is an ancient Athenian friend and devoted follower of Socrates, best known from Plato’s dialogues for urging Socrates to escape his death sentence.
D. Phaedo
Phaedo is a Platonic dialogue that recounts the final hours and philosophical discussions of Socrates before his execution.
E. Socrates
Socrates was a classical Athenian philosopher renowned as a founder of Western philosophy, known for his method of questioning and his trial and execution in Athens.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	ancient Greek comedy play ⓘ satirical play ⓘ
author	Aristophanes ⓘ
centralTheme	abuse of rhetoric ⓘ conflict between old and new education ⓘ debt and financial anxiety ⓘ generational conflict ⓘ moral consequences of sophistry ⓘ
competitionResult	placed third at the City Dionysia of 423 BC ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Classical Athens ⓘ
dramaticSetting	Athens ⓘ Socrates' Thinkery ⓘ
featuresCharacter	Socrates ⓘ
featuresChorus	Clouds ⓘ
featuresConcept	Just Argument ⓘ Unjust Argument ⓘ
firstPerformanceDate	423 BC ⓘ
firstPerformanceFestival	Dionysia ⓘ surface form: City Dionysia
firstPerformanceLocation	Athens ⓘ
genre	Old Comedy ⓘ
hasRevisedVersion	second edition by Aristophanes ⓘ
influenced	comic portrayals of philosophers ⓘ later perceptions of Socrates ⓘ
literaryDevice	allegory ⓘ caricature ⓘ choral commentary ⓘ parody ⓘ
literaryPeriod	Classical Greek literature ⓘ
mainCharacter	Pheidippides ⓘ Strepsiades ⓘ
notableTheme	tension between traditional piety and new intellectualism ⓘ
originalLanguage	Ancient Greek ⓘ
parodies	Socrates ⓘ
partOf	Aristophanes' surviving plays ⓘ
plotSummary	An indebted Athenian, Strepsiades, tries to learn deceptive argumentation from Socrates to avoid paying his debts, leading to family and moral chaos. ⓘ
preservationStatus	extant in near-complete form ⓘ
referencedIn	Apology of Socrates ⓘ surface form: Plato's Apology
satirizes	Socrates ⓘ Sophists ⓘ intellectual trends of classical Athens ⓘ new philosophical education ⓘ
selfCritique	Aristophanes' play Clouds self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Aristophanes criticizes the play in his later work for not winning first prize
structure	agon ⓘ episodes ⓘ exodos ⓘ parabasis ⓘ parodos ⓘ prologue ⓘ
timePeriodDepicted	Classical Athens ⓘ surface form: Peloponnesian War era Athens

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (18)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Socrates → associatedWith → Aristophanes' play Clouds ⓘ

Socrates → portrayedIn → Aristophanes' play Clouds ⓘ

this entity surface form: Aristophanes' Clouds

Aristophanes' play Clouds → selfCritique → Aristophanes' play Clouds self-linksurface differs ⓘ

subject surface form: Clouds

this entity surface form: Aristophanes criticizes the play in his later work for not winning first prize

Aristophanes → notableWork → Aristophanes' play Clouds ⓘ