The time of "Old Comedy" dates back to the reign of Pericles in Athens. The Theater of Dionysus is famous for hosting the performances of all of the surviving examples of Old Comedy, which are the works of Aristophanes.

The characteristic of this writing style is its harsh satirical targeting of its subjects. There were no restrictions to how far the playwrights could go in their satire and the work of Aristophanes shows this to be so. The topics were usually those of common dislike to the people in Athens, including people who were out of favor with the crowds.

To gain an audience and be able to be performed in Athens, however, the comedies had to follow the same performance style as the tragedies. This means that they had to have a chorus, masked actors, as well as certain scenery styles and other things that characterized the tragedies.

The plays also had to be written in the finest Attic language. Aristophanes is well known for his beautiful poetry and his clever word play.

Aristophanes was seen in his time as very humorous and not crude. He is not known to have suffered punishment or any negative consequences because of his work. Aristophanes is seen today, however, as being crude. Modern critics think his work to be degrading toward Athens. At the same time however, they admire his talent as a comic dramatist and poet.

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