Marta F. Di Bari

The Author reconsiders some controversial problems of staging raised by the end of Aristophanes’ Knights (ll. 1316-1408): [I] at 1326-1328 the change of scene from Demos’ house to the propuvlaia of the ancient Athens could be verbally suggested by stage directions internal to the text rather than actually carried out through some theatre device like the ekkyklema; [II] at 1331 it is reasonable to assume that Demos appeared really rejuvenated, his actor wearing a new mask, despite Edmunds and MacDowell’s objections; [III] at 1384-1386 nothing in the text suggests that the pais enorkes was visible on stage; [IV] there are good reasons to suppose that at 1389ff. the thirty-year Spondai were represented by one mute alone; [V] at the end of the play the Paphlagonian may have first appeared between 1407 and 1408, probably carried by one or more mute slaves.