The Clouds in the context of "Xenocles"

Aristophanes (/ˌærɪˈstɒfəniːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοφάνης [aristopʰánɛːs]; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples. Aristophanes's plays were performed at the religious festivals of Athens, mostly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, and several of them won the first prize in their respective competitions.

Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes wrote plays that often dealt with real-life figures, including Euripides and Alcibiades, and contemporary events, such as the Peloponnesian War. He has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His plays are characterized by preposterous premises, explicit language, wordplays, and political satire. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes's play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.

Cicynna or Kikynna (Ancient Greek: Κίκυννα) was a deme of ancient Attica of the phyle of Acamantis, sending two or three delegates to the Athenian Boule.

It was the native deme of Strepsiades, the protagonist in Aristophanes' The Clouds. Representing the generality of the deme, Aristophanes depicts this character as a prosperous farmer and attentive to his lazy son. Probably Cicynna had his own diasia, the most important festival to Zeus in Attica, in which the god was honored as Zeus Meilichius: this is evident from a passage from the aforementioned comedy by Aristophanes. The party was held on the 23rd of Anthesterion (around the beginning of March); the richest people offered sacrifices, and the poorest burned incense.