ARISTOC´RACY (Gr. _aristos_, best, _kratos_, rule), a form of government by which the wealthy and noble, or any small privileged class, rules over the rest of the citizens. The term has now become almost entirely social in meaning, and is mostly applied to the nobility or chief persons in a State.
ARISTOGEITON (-g[=i]´ton), a citizen of Athens, whose name is rendered famous by a conspiracy (514 B.C.) formed in conjunction with his friend Harmodius against the tyrants Hippias and Hipparchus, the sons of Pisistratus. Both Aristogeiton and Harmodius lost their lives through their attempts to free the country, and were reckoned martyrs of liberty.
ARISTOLOCHIA (-l[=o]´ki-a), a genus of plants, the type of the ord. Aristolochiaceæ, which consists of dicotyledonous monochlamydeous plants, with an inferior 3-6-celled fruit, found for the most part in the hotter parts of the world, and in many cases used medicinally on account of their tonic and stimulating properties. The genus has emmenagogic qualities, especially the European species _A. rotunda_, _A. longa_, and _A. Clemat[=i]tis_. _A. bracte[=a]ta_ is used in India as an anthelminthic; _A. odoratissima_, a West Indian species, is a valuable bitter and alexipharmic. _A. serpentaria_ is the Virginian snake-root, popularly regarded as a remedy for snake bites.
ARISTOPHANES (-tof´a-n[=e]z), the greatest comic poet of ancient Greece, born at Athens probably about the year 455 B.C., died 375 B.C. Little is known of his life. He appeared as a poet in 427 B.C., and having indulged in some sarcasms on the powerful demagogue Cleon, was ineffectually accused by the latter of having unlawfully assumed the title of an Athenian citizen. He afterwards revenged himself on Cleon in his comedy of the _Knights_, in which he himself acted the part of Cleon, because no actor had the courage to do it. Of fifty-four (or forty-four) comedies attributed to him, eleven only remain; believed to be the flower of the ancient comedy, and distinguished by wit, humour, and poetry, as also by grossness. In them there is constant reference to the manners, actions, and public characters of the day, the freedom of the old Greek comedy allowing an unbounded degree of personal and political satire. The names of his extant plays are _Acharnians_, _Knights_, _Clouds_, _Wasps_, _Peace_, _Birds_, _Lysistrata_, _Thesmophoriazusæ_, _Frogs_, _Ecclesiasuzæ_, and _Plutus_.--BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. B. Rogers, _Complete Works of Aristophanes, with verse translation_ (by far the best translation); Hookham-Frere, _Translation_ (five plays only); Couat, _Aristophane et l'ancienne comédie attique_.