About the work
Aristophanes' comedy premiered in 426 BC at the City Dionysia in Athens, probably his second play. Because he was still too young to produce a play under his own name, Callistratus registered the work for him. The production won first prize, the first Aristophanes ever received.
Plot
Only isolated fragments of the play survive. Its chorus portrayed Athens' allied cities as slaves grinding at a handmill for the politician Cleon, an image of their dependence on the Delian League. Performed before the allied cities' envoys attending the festival, the comedy openly attacked Athenian imperial policy and Cleon's demagoguery.
Cultural significance
Cleon responded with a lawsuit accusing Aristophanes of slandering the polis before citizens and foreigners; it had no lasting consequences, and Aristophanes went on attacking Cleon in later plays such as "The Knights" in 424 BC. "The Babylonians" is regarded as an early instance of Old Comedy's open political criticism and the start of the poet's long-running feud with the politician.