Diplomáticos y farsantes (Ar. Ach. 61-174): Estrategias para una desarticulación cómica de la política exterior ateniense

Abstract

In Acharnians –the first old comedy to have been preserved in its entirety– the plot includes from its very beginning a number of specific references pointing to a lexical focus on foreigners and diplomacy: in fact, a number of different legal institutions related to the interaction between Athenians and other alien peoples, such as the Persians or Thracians, is perceived. The first verses of the comedy translate some typical procedures of comic inversion: false outsiders are shown as litigious and unethical, and the nature of diplomatic relations is mocked when the underlying intentions are discovered within the apparent discourse of hospitality: by means of a rhetoric of anti-diplomacy, Aristophanes makes use of humour to unveil the conventional basis inherent to the legal regulation of foreign affairs.