I don’t know how much you actually disagree with the conclusions: even if the stories are made up by the characters in the comedy, I think the choice of made-up

I don’t know how much you actually disagree with the conclusions: even if the stories are made up by the characters in the comedy, I think the choice of made-up story could give clues about what was plausible, eg in more modern times a story of ‘I ran out of gas and asked to use their phone’ might suggest something about the location. I think if you want something more rigorous, you can probably find it, but you won’t be so likely to find it in general-interest articles like this one. It may be that there is more context in the play that isn’t mentioned, and the description is meant to be illustrative rather than like a mathematics paper quoting a theorem that is to be relied on later. Or perhaps the conclusion is synthesised from many sources but only one is illustrated because the purpose of the article is trying to describe what is thought about the past rather than trying to prove those things. The article has lots of links to sources, which is commendable, and I think you could look there first if you want stronger evidence.