المسرحية تنتمي الى أدب اليوتوبيات ، وتوصف بأنها أفضل أعمال أريستوفانيس ، وقد أوحى له بها فشل الأسطول الأثيني في الحلمة المعروفة باسم " حملة صقلية " وقد كانت قبل عرض المسرحية بعام واحد، وقبل رحيل الأسطول بيوم واحد تعرضت مدينة أثينا لموجة من الفوضى والأضطراب ، كذلك دمرت جزيرة ميلوس بفظاظة ووحشية دون ذنب أو جزيرة ، و كان أريستوفانيس قد بلغ منه المقت مداه نحو الحروب وأهوالها وما يترتب عليها من دمار بشري وحضاري، ولذا تراه في هذه المسرحية -التي يعتبرها النقاد أحسن مسرحياته التي وصلتنا- يلجأ إلي الفانتاسيا ليحلم بما يشبه اليوتوبيا ، وهي تحكي عن اثنين من المواطنين يتملكهما اليأس من الحياة في أثينا التي ساءت أحوالها ويشعران بالوحشة بين بين الناس ، فيتسلقان الى حيث أوكار الطيور لمقابلة صديق قديم يدعى " تيريوس " كان قد تحول الى " هدهد " ويسالانه عن المكان الأمثل للحياة بعد أن زهدا اثينا وشعبها ، فيقترح عليهما اسماء عديدة على ظهر الأرض لكنهما يرفضانها ، علمت الطيور بوصول الرجلين غير المتوقع الى عالمها لكن وصول الصديقين غير المتوقع إلي عالم الطيور قوبل بالعداء من جانب الجوقة المكونة من الطيور، فتوجه الطيور حديثها الى الآدميين في نشيد طويل فيه تقول ، أي بني الانسان ياقصارى الأجل ، ويا من تملأ الاحزان حياتكم يوما بعد يوم ، يا عرا’ يا منزوعي الريش ، يا ضعاف الأجسام يا كثيري النزاع ، يا مرضى يا من تنتابكم النوائب ، يا من خلقتم من طين ، استمعوا الى اقوال السادة الطيور الخالدة ، مالكة الهواء ، التي تشرف من عل بأعينها الرحيمة ، على ما بينكم من نزاع وشقاء وكدح وقلق و..........وتقرر في النهاية ان تمد يد المساعدة الى بني البشر جميعا

"The Birds" was both witty and insightful about the nature of the Athenian dream: to live through play and not pay taxes. Though comical, it changes from a story of two men looking to escape their responsibilities, to their dream of a new world and overthrowing the gods, to the two men's domination. Ironically, much of their power was gained through a matter of others shrugging and doing their very best to avoid responsibility. I found that this play was both charmingly cheeky-- at a couple points faux-threatening the crowd to vote for the play in the competition it had been entered in-- and interesting for its complex view of human beings.

Like most of Aristophanes' plays this is extremely odd - but quite amusing. I would recommend reading up on it before attempting the text!

یک کمدی کلاسیک ... یکی از خلاقانه ترین آثار آریستوفان است ... در پس یک قصه ی نمادین که همان حکومت پرندگان به جای خدایان المپ میباشد به ارایه ی مفاهیمی همچون نقد خدایان ، جامعه ی یونانی ، سلسله مراتب قدرت و خصوصیات ذاتی انسان ها میپردازد .

3.5 Stars
ARISTOPHANES SLAYED ONCE AGAIN
It may not be as good as The Frogs, but because of its universal themes, its puns, its changes between characters present on scene and its fast and enjoyable rhythm, The Birds makes up for an amazing book and an even better play. That being said, I am very glad my edition had an introduction, footnotes and thorough explanations of all historical allusions within the play, otherwise it would have been a bit of a bumpier ride but still a good one. Aristophanes my beloved <33

"Kurtlara bile acınır ama insana acınmaz."

I’m so tired of hairspray when will the west end start doing plays about men becoming birds becoming gods, this is what the people want

This was actually so so funny, but all the witty jokes fly straight over your head since (obviously) none of them translate well, but with a sprinkle of imagination and an appreciation for dad jokes you too can enjoy a centuries old play! Aristophanes must have had so much game he still got the girls giggling two thousand years in the future.

(PUTS FINGER TO BOTTOM) Oh! be quite at ease.

not his best not his worst; here's a little bit i particularly enjoyed

No dinner i ween; tis a speech that i mean
a stalwart and brawny oration,
Their spirit to batter, and shiver and shatter.
(to the birds) So sorely I grieve for your lot
Who once in the prime and beginning of time were Sovereigns -

We Sovereigns! of what?

Of all that you see; of him and of me;
of zeus up above on his throne;
a lineage older and nobler by far than the Titans and Cronos ye own,
and than Earth

And than Earth?!

By Apollo tis true.

And I never had heard it before!

Because you've a blind uninquisitive mind...

A popular play written by Aristophanes in the 5th century BCE, The Birds is about two men who decide to become birds in order to find some solace away from Athens. They are successful by getting all of the bird kingdom to buy into their idea of creating a massive city (Cloudcuckooland) in the sky, and not letting the gods through to the humans, and not letting the humans' offerings up to the gods. The immense strength of all of the birds are a formidable force against the gods, and they offer up peace terms to the birds, which includes Peisthetaerus getting the hand of Hera in marriage from Zeus.

This is a witty, humorous, raunchy comedy. It reminds me how much I love the ancient Greek society.

This play was occasionally amusing but overall feels a bit dated. Much of the humor seemed like it might have been more funny when it came out back in ‘14.

I mean 414.
BC.

Of the Ancient Greek Plays That Are Important for Every Well-educated Person to Read, this would surely fall into the 2nd tier. Maybe the third.
I did appreciate hearing the original use of the term “cloud-cuckoo-land” though.

I read the George Theodoridis translation available here:
http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PI...

The only drawback to reading this version is that there are no annotations. It's a pretty accessible translation, so I understood most of it anyway, but I'd like to read an annotated version eventually, to see what I might have missed.

My favorite Aristophanes is still Lysistrata (I think I read the Lattimore translation) but this was fascinating. It's less explicitly political than Lysistrata, but very whimsical and imaginative. When I read Reason and Persuasion: Three Dialogues By Plato: Euthyphro, Meno, Republic Book I earlier this year, the author had a great description of this play (in connection with the "ring of Gyges" story in Plato's Republic):

"A pair of idiots find themselves in the country of birds, where, to save their skins, they end up feathered and winged, organizing the birds into a political power. They start a bird-centric religion. The newly self-confident birds build a mighty fortress, Cloud Cuckooland, between the human world and Olympus... the gifts humans give the gods -- vaguely conceived of as aromas rising up out of the fires -- are embargoed. A deputation of Olympians (and one Thracian god, who can't speak Greek, or get his clothes on straight) come to Cuckooland on a diplomatic mission. They need this stuff they are used to getting from mortals on a regular basis!...

Also, when the humans-turned-birds find their new condition convenient, they reflect on why this is so. If you have powers no ordinary mortals do -- in this case, flight -- they can't touch you. Obviously you will get up to all sorts of unethical stuff, if there is no threat of punishment..."

Two men, Euelpides and Peisthetaerus, who want to be free like birds, birds who rule the atmosphere. They use their tongue to tell the Birds how they can be more powerful than zeus, because they can control the space between zeus and man and the sacrifices to zeus. There are some points in the play that is insightful: "The wise learn from foes. Foresight secures all things... a lesson that you cannot learn from friends but that our enemy forces you into." And then there are other parts I would just rather not ever read again. It all goes wrong, and zeus is furious with man, and then the birds are back to the hero state they were before man. I wanted to read an Aristophane play, now I can say I have. I may try Clouds.