Clouds/Wasps/Birds

These are adequate translations of notoriously difficult Greek to English works. They work by changing topical Greek subjects tackled by Aristophanes into rough American mid-20th-century analogs. The humor is still comprehensible and quite funny in places, though scholars won't like their lack of exactitude in matters of translation. Good for modern performances, though.

This translation has to be the best among the dozens I've encountered over the past few weeks of systematic exploration into Aristophanes' great works. Meineck's translation was exceptionally down-to-earth and comedic, though sometimes seemed a bit incongruous with the plays' historical background. The skilful manipulation of contemporary references and modern slangs results in a translation that is highly relatable to modern readers while also preserving an original taste of classical humours. I highly recommend this book to readers new to Aristophanes.

The three plays in the book are inarguably the best representations of the theatrical achievements of Aristophanes. Clouds has been his most well-known work for millennia, until probably the end of last century when Lysistrata became equally famous. From personal reading experience I'd say there's no doubt that Clouds stands out in many ways as the single best play by comical standards. Satirically speaking the play was also among the most debated plays in history, mainly over whom the playwright was satirizing and what the motivations were. The sheer amount of derivative works on Clouds is enough to prove the lasting values of the work, if not further embellishing it. Wasps on the other hand, was less dramatic and comedic in comparison to Clouds; this was partially due to the topic which it concerned, as the play was among the most politically satirical works of Aristophanes. Yet on the other side, this fusion between politics and drama presented Wasps as a good specimen for studying contemporary Athenian politics and, in particular, its judiciary system. Accompanied by informative annotations from MacDowell, Wasps became the most information-intensive play of all three. The last play, Birds, was often compared to Frogs, in a sense that they both involved large amounts of interactions between the mortals and the divines, and in both cases, absurdity arisen as a result of this interaction. Speaking about absurdity, it is worth mentioning that several of Aristophanes' plays had recurrent theme of absurdity, usually in the form of straightforward contradiction with the reality. While I certainly don't possess the wit to analyze this theme detailedly, I believe it is an element important to the playwright's comedies. In addition,
Birds's best known for the phrase "cloud cuckoo land" which was in some ways interchangeable with "utopia".

Aside from all the literariness, what Aristophanes' plays impressed me the most was its unaffected embrace of humanism, even the gods and goddesses were portrayed with excessive human sensitivities. Considering that most of Aristophanes' works came out during the tumultuous years of the Peloponnesian War, it is truly amazing to picture such an image:

With hordes of Spartan heavy infantries stationed outside of the defensive walls of Athens, the smell of war diffused into every corner of the city and the fear of uncertainty spread through the air, yet the Athenians could not be troubled by the immense pressure from Spartans, nor would they be bothered by insidious political struggles and sporadic breakout of plagues, for they spent the most prime of their time enjoying poems, songs, plays, and dramas. People gathered at Dionysia and Lenaia to celebrate the latest dramatic achievements from all of Hellas while indulging themselves with revels and carnivals. What kind of preposterous image must that be! I couldn't help but wonder whether the Athenians were choked with despise of war or were simply dreaded with years of violence and defeat. Either way, it must be an absurd world in which Aristophanes composed his works and present to his audiences -- or is it? I always thought I knew much about ancient Athenian life until I started reading primary sources from contemporary Athenians, and the more I read, the more strange and foreign ancient Athens becomes. I hope reading what the ancients read and imagining what they imagined is a good way for me to kickstart my voyage of diving deeper into understanding the psychological life of ancient Greeks.

Last but not least, for those of you who want nothing but an hour-long LOL spree, this book is also strongly recommended thanks to Meineck's brilliantly hilarious translation.

the translation is only a sliver of how well mr peter meineck conveys the comedy of aristophanes. i highly recommend this translation.

Although Clouds is always presented as a satire about Socrates, I found it much more a satire about the main character Strepsiades, his son Pheidippides and sophist reasoning. Actually it's probably a satire about all and everything and probably about Athenian life in general. Most of the dialogue between Socrates and Strepsiades is Socrates making fun of the "fossilized, forgetful old fool."

It was more or less fun to read, and gives some feeling about what comedy must have been in 5th century Athens.

If I had to choose one word to describe Aristophanes' humor it would be burlesque. Of the three plays, I most enjoyed the Wasps for its parody of the jury system. But all three plays provide keen insight into the day-to-day lives of typical Athenians. From Strepsiades' complaints about his long-haired horse racing son (in Clouds) to the troop of characters who descend upon the new sky city Cloudcuckooland (in Birds) to get their slice of the action (poet-for-hire, an informer, an inspector, an "oracle-monger"), each play demonstrates that not much has changed in human nature over the last two thousand plus years.

Holy shit this book is actually so good it’s so funny I love it so much Aristophanes is by far my favorite classic author this man can WRITE this book has so many good jokes I highly recommend anyone read it

I don't think anybody cares how I rate Aristophanes: people have been enjoying his plays for two millennia, so it's safe to say the verdict is in. Instead I'm going to rate the modern Aristophanes translations, the quality of which is highly variable. Slang and bawdry seem to be the hardest things to translate, more on account of the people who tend to become translators, I think -- especially translators of ancient Greek -- than of the difficulties inherent in approximating lively foulness. In English Aristophanes has suffered pretty badly; you have to really dig for a translation that conveys why the ancients enjoyed this guy so much.

Disclaimer: I don't know Greek, so I can only judge how these translations read in English - and make no mistake, these are all in English English: it's 'bloody' this and 'bugger' that, with 'poofters' and 'bumboys' galore, which sound to this American like the sort of imprecations you let fly when the waitstaff at Gordon Ramsay serves you some ill-blackened swordfish. But I didn't deduct points for Britishness -- not even for all the 'arses', which I have no idea what to do with -- only for stuff that'd be lousy in any dialect.

Meineck: A
Bartlett & Sommerstein: B
Theodoridis: B
Einhorn (Lysistrata): C+ (his Lampito is straight out of 'Bamboozled')
Halliwell: C
Arrowsmith, Parker, and Lattimore: D-
Henderson: F
Ruden: Oof. In the words of Dean Vernon Wormer - "Zero point zero."

Meineck only did these three plays, so until he gives us an "Aristophanes II" we're stuck with the OK Bartlett & Sommerstein and the slightly unhinged Theodoridis ("Because, by Salty Poseidon, we are so piss-weak ourselves!"). Feel free to take a crayon and a sense of humor to their pages, however: I've found that if you tune up the B&S or give the Theodoridis some Ritalin, they both read decently well. And they are worth reading: Aristophanes is great!

Great translations. These aren't the historical versions, however; all have been somewhat tampered with in an attempt to make them acting versions. Strangely, however, it seems that the translator's ad libs and changes in a way DO make it more historical- they're hilarious. Even the Wasps, one of Aristophanes' least enticing plays becomes great! The translators have a great knack for bringing the playwright's absurdity to life.