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Honestly, I can’t connect with Aristophanes comedies, but the way he criticized the war, the politics and the sophists was admirable.
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Four Plays: The Clouds/The Birds/Lysistrata/The Frogs
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Whether his target is the war between the sexes or his fellow playwright Euripides, Aristophanes is the most important Greek comic dramatist—and one of the greatest comic playwrights of all time. His writing—at once bawdy and delicate—brilliantly fuses serious political satire with pyrotechnical bombast, establishing the tradition of comedy as high art. His messages are as timely and relevant today as they were in ancient Greece, and his plays still provoke laughter—and thought.
This volume features four celebrated Lysistrata, The Frogs, The Birds, and The Clouds , translated by three of the most distinguished translators and classicists of our time.
This volume features four celebrated Lysistrata, The Frogs, The Birds, and The Clouds , translated by three of the most distinguished translators and classicists of our time.
624 pages, Paperback
First published January 1,1983
This edition
- Format
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624 pages, Paperback
- Published
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May 1, 1994 by Penguin Publishing Group
- ISBN
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9780452007178
- ASIN
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0452007178
- Language
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English
About the author
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Aristophanes (Greek: Αριστοφάνης; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."
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Just wanted to say I had read these.
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lysistrata is kick-ass!
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Aristophanes is hilarious sometimes.
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Big fan of Aristophanes. Nuf said.
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This translation of Aristophanes is really readable and raunchy. I read The Clouds and The Birds. Will have to check out again to read Lysistrata, which I find cited pretty often. The butt stuff alone makes it worth a read.
Was surprised to find the satire of the Sophists leveled in The Clouds relevant to pseudo-scientific bloviation of our own time.
The introductions, commentary, and notes included in this edition were helpful. However, this translation is clear enough that you don't have to spend too much time in the notes to understand what's happening.
Was surprised to find the satire of the Sophists leveled in The Clouds relevant to pseudo-scientific bloviation of our own time.
The introductions, commentary, and notes included in this edition were helpful. However, this translation is clear enough that you don't have to spend too much time in the notes to understand what's happening.
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Technically a 3.5.
Really enjoyable comedies- it's nice to know ass humor is always funny, whether in 400 B.C. or the modern day.
Really enjoyable comedies- it's nice to know ass humor is always funny, whether in 400 B.C. or the modern day.
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I'm reading Lysistrata for Banned Books Week 2009. This translator's depiction of Lampito is absolutely hilarious; I could just hug him.
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