Ba-ha! This was hilarious. ^^

Veldig funny

Moroklump, han der Aristofanes

The Frogs is another of Aristophanes' plays that is just top-notch for me as a Greek drama and as a general comedy- the plotline is just hilarious to behold, especially if the reader has understanding of the inside jokes like I did.

I read a post somewhere on Tumblr that described the plot of this play as follows: "Aeschylus and Euripides have a rap battle in the underworld while Dionysus croaks with a chorus of frogs". And I'd say that that's essentially it. I know that Aristophanes is known to mock real-life figures, but I've never read a more hilarious case of this. If one has read the plays of Euripides and Aeschylus before, the situation that comes up is just so funny to read about, especially since I used to really see these two tragedians as very serious figures. I love Aristophanes' strange use of a frog chorus as well- he has a tendency to make very odd choruses.

All in all, this play is just great. Just one word of caution, however- it's hard to underatand this play at all if you haven't read any other works of Greek drama, so I'd say that reading a bit of Euripides and Aeschylus would be recommended in this case.

Fine, but nothing special. You might enjoy this more if you know Aeschylus and Euripides and their works.

quem diria que a cena gay segue a mesma desde a Grécia Antiga até hoje em dia!!!!

total e completa energia bicha escrachada da cênicas, e falo como elogio! eu!! que sou CONTRA o teatro!! enfim, ri horrores. e até contribuiria com minha arte desfavorita se tivesse uma montagem bacana da peça. imagino que funcione bem no palco.

tradução excelente! vale a leitura se você tiver interesse ou trabalhar com estudos tradutológicos, não só pelo texto em si, mas também pelas notas de rodapé (não muitas, mas o suficiente pra tratar de algumas questões interessantes e comuns do processo de tradução)

Entertaining in the beginning but it got too muddled in the end for me.

به نظرم مترجم یادداشت و جواب خوبی به آریستوفان داده که
فرزندان شان و فرزندان فرزندانشان و آن زاد و رودی که هرگز ندیدند،اوریپید را بیش تر دوست داشته اند تا سوفوکل و ايسخولوس
و اضافه کنم خصوصا آریستوفان!

A long, long, long time before comedian Peter Cook flaunted a culture of deference and respect by insulting a Prime Minister to his face in front of a live audience, the ancient Greeks were doing it with olive knobs on.

Written and performed in 405BC, The Frogs dares to stick it not just to the great and good of Athenian society, but even to the gods themselves. Dionysus himself, god of revels and patron of drama, is mercilessly satirized at his own festival by Aristophanes.

Dionysus, in the company of his insolent and sharp-witted slave Xanthius, decides to journey into Hades to bring back Euripides to help revive Athenian tragedy in order to inspire victory over the Spartans in the Peloponessian War.

Why? Because current dramatists 'be mere vintage-leavings, jabberers, choirs / Of swallow-broods, degraders of their art, / Who get one chorus, and are seen no more'.

There follows satire, parody and all manor of piss-taking, at playwrights, politicians, and poor, miss-used Dionysus, who even takes a whipping at the suggestion of his saucy slave:

Aeacus: Torture him, how?
Xanthius: In any mode you please.
Pile bricks upon him: stuff his nose with acid:
Flay, rack him, hoist him; flog him with a scourge
Of prickly bristles: only not with this,
A soft-leaved onion, or a tender leek.

Ouch!

More than anything, the Athenians were ever wary of hubris, always on the lookout for any man who was becoming too big for his chiton.

The comedies of the public theatre were a ready way to expose the ambitious and ridicule the ruling elite, watched and enjoyed by thousands, often with the targets themselves amongst the audience.

Or the target could just as readily be the entire audience, as in this pointed piece of politics by the Chorus:

'O by nature best and wisest, O relax your jealous ire,
Let us all the world as kinsfolk and as citizens acquire,
All who on our ships will battle well and bravely by our side
If we cocker up our city, narrowing her with senseless pride
Now when she is rocked and reeling in the cradles of the sea,
Here again will after ages deem we acted brainlessly.'

And again, before the climactic dead tragedians contest in Hades, Aristophanes chides the audience for their lack of taste:

Xan: But were there none to side with Aeschylus?
Aeac: Scanty and sparse the good, (Regards the audience) the same as here.

There was plenty wrong with Athens as a fledgling democracy, especially its institutionalized slavery and the negligent, homebound role alloted to women. But you have to admire a society that allowed such freedom of speech, celebrated it in fact, raised it to an art and awarded accolades and prizes for the most entertaining practitioners.

Fittingly, the playwrights themselves are given the tastiest, most inventive insults, which they reserve for each other:

Euripides: I know the man, I've scanned him through and through,
A savage-creating stubborn-pulling fellow,
Uncurbed, unfettered, uncontrolled of speech,
Unperiphrastic, bombastiloquent.

Aeschylus: Hah! sayest thou so, child of the garden quean!
And this to ME, thou chattery-babble-collector,
Thou pauper-creating rags-and-patches-stitcher?
Thou shalt abye it dearly!

Aristophanes affords Aeschylus the ultimate insult though:
Aesch. My poetry survived me: his died with him.

Thoroughly entertaining and an object lesson in what it means to live in a democracy.

ბრეკეკეკექს, კოაქს, კოაქს!
"კარგა ხშირად გვჩევნება, თითქოს ჩვენი ქალაქი
თავის შვილებს ისე არჩევს, საყვარლებს და საძაგლებს
ვით ძველებურ მონეტებს და ახალმოჭრილ ოქროებს.
თუ ძველია მონეტა და გაუყალბებელია,
თუ კარგია და სჯობია სხვა მონეტებს ათასჯერ,
თუ მოჭრილი არის სწორად, არის ხარისხიანი,
ბერძნებსა და სხვა ხალხებშიც მოწონება თუკი აქვს,
არ ვიყენებთ; ბრუნვაში გვაქვს საძაგელი სპილენძი,
აგერ, გუშინ და გუშინწინ უხარისხოდ მოჭრილი.
კეთილშობილ მოქალაქეს, პატიოსანს, გონიერს,
სამართლიანს, გამოსადეგს, წესიერს და რიგიანს,
პალესტრაში განათლებულს, მუსიკაში გარკვეულს
ვაძევებთ და ახალ სპილენძს, ყირმიზსა და უცხოელს,
საძაგელს და საძაგლის შვილს სიხარულით ვიტოვებთ,
თუმცა გუშინ მოეთრნენ და ერთ დროს ჩვენი ქალაქი
შესაწირად ვარგისადაც არ ჩათვლიდა მაგ ოხრებს.
მაგრამ ახლა, უგუნურნო, ჩვეულება შევცვალეთ;
პატიოსნებს დაეყრდენით, თუ ივარგეს, ხომ კარგი;
თუ არადა, კარგი ხიდან მაინც ჩამოვარდებით,
თუკი თავი გეტკინებათ, შიგნით რაღაც გქონიათ."
...ჭინჭილა დაკარგა.
ტოფლატოთრატოფლატოთრატ,
ბრეკეკეკექს, კოაქს, კოაქს!

Reading this via Daily Lit didn't quite do it justice. Even then it was pretty funny. I'd LOVE to see this performed. The basic summary is that Dionysus goes to the Underworld to retrieve Euripedes so that the god can be entertained on earth. This leads to hi-jinx and a contest between Euripedes and Aeschylos to see which one is the best playwright (tragedy). I highly recommend it to everyone (there are elements that are funny even if you're unfamiliar with Greek drama & mythology), but it's probably most enjoyable to those familiar with Greek tragedy and mythology.

لول