Chłostanie Dionizosa. Bogowie na scenie w komediach Arystofanesa

The gods as dramatis personae were introduced into the stage of the ancient Greek theatre by the tragedians who kept, however, a distance between the gods and the men in their plays. That distance disappeared almost entirely in Old Comedy, where the gods were reduced to the position of men. The gods fell into dependence of terrestrials, sometimes they even allowed to be treated like slaves. It was possible to show the gods this way because of the freedom of speech in Athens of that time, and because of anthropomorphic attitude of the Greeks towards their gods. Such gods were introduced by Aristophanes into the stage particularly in the following plays: in Peace, Birds, Frogs, and Plutus. Those plays were the source of material for the article. The author wanted to show in it mostly the characters and the acting of gods very much similar to human beings, and at the same time departing from their divinity.