Where It All Goes Down
Athens in Classical Times
The play takes place in Greece during the classical period—you know, that golden age for literature and the arts. The big writers from this period include all those Greek and Roman guys who wrote epics, like Homer and Virgil. The Greek philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle also called this period theirs.
So why do all of those big shots matter? Well, when people talk about classicism, they talk about literature that is distinctive for its balance, order, and reason. As a city, Athens in particular was known for all of these traits. Shakespeare's audience would have been clued in to the fact that Classical Greece—especially Athens—was full of order and reason. In fact, we get to see democracy at work when the play gives us a scene in the Senate.
But Athens was also known for some vices. Word on the street was that people in Athens knew how to party. They had a big appetite for excess, spending loads of money on food, wine, and clothing that they didn't really need. Well, we don't see a lot of order and reason in this play—particularly in the Senate—but we sure do see a lot of shallowness, treachery, and excess.
Democracy sure isn't working so well here. How could it, when all everyone wants is money?
Now, not all scholars think that the Athenian setting is that important. A lot of them argue that Athens is just a stand-in for Shakespeare's England, where spending was running wild under King James I. Some critics think that Shakespeare just chose Athens at random, sort of like he did in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
We'll never know exactly what Shakespeare had up his sleeve when he was writing the play, but we think the similarities between Timon's Athens and Shakespeare's England are worth considering.