Aristophanes’ Anniversary in the USSR

The article describes in detail how the celebration of the 2400th anniversary of the birth of the Athenian comedian Aristophanes was prepared and carried out in the USSR in 1954. This anniversary was the first and only one among Soviet memorable dates that did not have a direct connection with Soviet history or personalities, was not connected with the USSR geographically and, in fact, meant the celebration of the anniversary of the author belonging to another, Western, historical tradition. All the more interesting is the “jubilee phenomenon” of Aristophanes, which is reflected both in the research and educational spheres and in the cultural part of the life of Soviet society. The large-scale celebration of the anniversary was accompanied by an ideological campaign to include the ancient author and his heritage in the historical tradition of the USSR, which was characterized by the search and justification of the similarity between the period of life and work of Aristophanes (V—IV centuries B. C.) and the USSR in the 1950s. The “academic image” of Aristophanes as a “writer from the people”, created by Soviet scientists (S. I. Sobolevsky, V. N. Yarkho, V. V. Golovnya and others), who fought for the rights of peasants, opposed the rich, stigmatized the Peloponnesian War, echoed the “popular image” of Aristophanes on the pages of Soviet newspapers and magazines. Both images of Aristophanes included a mandatory emphasis on the “nationality” of the ancient author and his ideas, proximity to the Soviet ideals of the social system in the fight against capitalist society, exploiters and oppressors of the working class. The anniversary of Aristophanes in 1954, on the one hand, was an important milestone in the end of the era of “Stalinist classicism”, on the other hand, marked the onset of a new era in the reception and actualization of ancient heritage in the USSR.