This book interprets the handling of costume in the plays of the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes, using as evidence the surviving plays as well as vase-paintings and terracotta figurines. This book fills a gap in the study of ancient Greek drama, focusing on performance, gender, and the body.

In this thesis I argue for the consequential role costume change plays in Aristophanic comedy, that these changes either advance the plot or convey a change a character has undergone. Specifically, I focus on changes of hair, clothing, and mask, because these are the parts of costumes that characters most often manipulate. My first chapter draws from Knights, Ecclesiazusae, Thesmophoriazusae, and Wasps and argues for the clothing changes of certain characters as central to turning point of the plot. My second chapter is centered on manipulation of hair in Lysistrata, Ecclesiazusae, and Thesmophoriazusae, looking especially at gender and the role hair plays in establishing gender boundaries. Finally, my third chapter focuses on Knights, Plutus, and Clouds, all of which contain a character who undergoes a significant transformation of lifestyle. These transformations, I argue, could possibly have been made visually more effective by a change of the character's mask.

Comic Business situates Aristophanic comedy in the context of competitive (re)performance culture in 5th- and 4th-century Greece. It seeks to illuminate how the dazzling busyness of Aristophanic comedy is the creation of a carefully manipulating craftsman trying to outdo his rivals in the fierce competition of the dramatic festivals. Theoretically informed by theatre semiotics and frame-based models of conceptualizing the theatrical event, it analyses in a number of case studies how theatrical resources of all kinds are utilized in order to generate theatrical meaning as well as capture and sustain audience interest. The approach therefore combines philological analysis with methodologies developed in Theatre Studies. Special attention is given to the visual dimension of theatrical communication. Material from comparator traditions is brought to bear, as is the evidence of the pictorial record.

Costume production distinguishes early civilization from the Paleolithic era as much as architectural production. Costume transcends boundaries, as it first unites and then divides mankind. The mode of dress differentiates friend from foe and peasant from prince. Changes in the appearance and types of garments through the ages are a significant indicator of social, economic and chronological changes. This annotated bibliography of 603 references, taken from monographs, dissertations, festschrifts, periodicals, encyclopedias and handbooks, is the most comprehensive research tool for the subject of ancient Greek costume. This subject is of increasing interest to scholars in many fields, including archaeology and anthropology, art and art history, classics, drama, history, ancient literature, even modern literature. The references in this bibliography range from the encyclopedia entry to the monograph, and show a variety of themes: women's dress, men's dress, foreign dress, accessories, jewelry, headdresses, theater dress, textile production and literary evidence.