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Strepsiades learns of Vortex

423 BCE, Athens (Theatre of Dionysus). Strepsiades speaking, in Aristophanes’ play.

Where and when

423 BCEAthens (Theatre of Dionysus)

2,448 years ago

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Aristophanes

, Athens (Theatre of Dionysus)Strepsiades speaking, in Aristophanes’ play

In plain words, ours

Vortex? I somehow missed that Zeus does not exist and Vortex rules in his place.

Vortex? It had escaped my notice that Jupiter did not exist, and that Vortex now reigned in his stead.

Aristophanes, Clouds line 380Translated by William James Hickie (1853)Read the full passage (Aristophanes, Clouds line 380, opens scaife.perseus.org)

What was going on, our summary

In Aristophanes' play, Socrates is teaching Strepsiades about the weather. He tells him there is no Jupiter, that clouds make the rain, and that clouds crashing together make the thunder.

Checked claim by claim against: the passage around the quote.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

  1. c. 441 BCEabout 18 years earlier Antigone defies Creon Also about the gods
  2. 427 BCE4 years earlier Athens votes to kill Mytilene's men, then relents Also in Athens
  3. 425 BCE2 years earlier Spartans surrender on Sphacteria Same years
  4. 424/423 BCEDuring it Thucydides fails to save Amphipolis and is exiled Same years
  5. 423 BCEThis momentStrepsiades learns of Vortex
  6. 423 BCESame year A disciple of Socrates on the flea More from Aristophanes
  7. 423 BCESame year Strepsiades on the gnat's trumpet More from Aristophanes
  8. 423 BCESame year The stage Socrates calls the Clouds goddesses Same passage
  9. 423 BCESame year Aristophanes' Socrates walks on air More from Aristophanes
  10. 422 BCE1 year later Cleon and Brasidas both die at Amphipolis Same years
  11. 421 BCE2 years later The Peace of Nicias Also in Athens
  12. c. 431–411 BCEDuring it Socrates on guardians sharing wives and children Same years
  13. c. 430–405 BCEDuring it Socrates would rather suffer wrong than do it Also in Athens
  14. 415 BCE7.899999999999977 years later Statues of Hermes are smashed across Athens Also about the gods

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Socrates: What Jupiter? Do not trifle. There is no Jupiter.

Strepsiades: What do you say? Who rains then? For first of all explain this to me.

Socrates: These to be sure. I will teach you it by powerful evidence. Come, where have you ever seen him raining at any time without Clouds? And yet he ought to rain in fine weather, and these be absent.

Strepsiades: By Apollo, of a truth you have rightly confirmed this by your present argument. And yet, before this, I really thought that Jupiter caused the rain. But tell me who is it that thunders. This makes me tremble.

Socrates: These, as they roll, thunder.

Strepsiades: In what way? you all-daring man!

Socrates: When they are full of much water, and are compelled to be borne along, being necessarily precipitated when full of rain, then they fall heavily upon each other and burst and clap.

Strepsiades: Who is it that compels them to borne along? Is it not Jupiter?

Socrates: By no means, but aethereal Vortex.

The quote: Strepsiades: Vortex? It had escaped my notice that Jupiter did not exist, and that Vortex now reigned in his stead.

Strepsiades: But you have taught me nothing as yet concerning the clap and the thunder.

Socrates: Have you not heard me, that I said that the Clouds, when full of moisture, dash against each other and clap by reason of their density?

Strepsiades: Come, how am I to believe this?

Socrates: I’ll teach you from your own case. Were you ever, after being stuffed with broth at the Panathenaic festival, then disturbed in your belly, and did a tumult suddenly rumble through it?

Strepsiades: Yes, by Apollo!

Aristophanes, Clouds lines 367–388Translated by William James Hickie (1853)Read the full passage (opens scaife.perseus.org)

When, and whose words

Date
423 BCE. Clouds was first staged in 423 BCE; the text that survives is a partial revision Aristophanes made a few years later, which was never staged.
Whose words
Strepsiades speaking, in Aristophanes’ play.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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