Aelian and the Gods of Comedy

Abstract

Aelian offers a curious example of how comedy was tied to religion during the Second Sophistic. He describes a votive relief dedicated by the Old Comic poet Theopompus to Asclepius, which he interprets as a symbol of the genre (Theopomp. Com. test. 2 PCG = Ael. fr. 102 Domingo-Forasté). My article situates this passage within the style and purpose of Aelian’s miscellanies, in order to explore how he transforms it into a literary monument that testifies to the god’s concern for Old Comedy—a striking departure from the more negative perceptions of the genre in the literary culture of his time. I propose two possible origins for the anecdote that might illuminate Aelian’s symbolic treatment: an actual votive relief linked to the playwright in an Attic sanctuary of Asclepius, or a comedy by Theopompus himself.