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Why was Aristophanesâ birthplace uncertain?
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Aristophanes
Aristophanes, portrait bust, c. 4thâ1st century bce; in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy.
The uncertainty surrounding the birthplace of the Greek dramatist Aristophanes stems from his family's property holdings. Although he was an Athenian citizen belonging to the Pandionis clan, he or his father, Philippus, owned land on the island of Aegina. This ownership led his fellow citizens to accuse him of not being of true Athenian birth.1