Frogs

A comedy by the Athenian poet, Aristophanes, produced in 405 BCE; the play won first prize at the competition of Lenaea.

The play, like many of Aristophanes’ plays, was an undisguised plea for peace with Sparta in hopes of ending the long and cruel Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE); this play came at the end of the conflict and did nothing to prevent the city of Athens from losing the war but it does show that Aristophanes never gave up hope or lost his sense of indignation for the politicians who refused, or simply could not imagine, peace with Sparta.

The play tells the story of how the god of wine, Dionysus, and his servant descended into the Underworld in hopes of bringing back an effective tragic poet to inspire the people and politicians of Athens to end the war with either an honorable victory or peace.

Dionysus assumed the guise of the hero, *(Heracles), with lion skin and club, and tried to bluff his way into the abode of Hades; the name of the play comes from the chorus of frogs who chanted the rhythm of the oar strokes as Dionysus rowed Kharon’s (Charon’s) boat to the dark shore of Tartaros (Tartarus).

After entering the Underworld, Dionysus was required to judge a competition between the two poets Euripides and Aeskhylus (Aeschylus); the two dead poets lambasted each other’s poetic skills and offered biting and humorous criticisms of the others lyrics; finally, Dionysus chose Aeskhylus as his champion and, with Hades’ consent, took Aeskhylus to the Athens to save the city from defeat by the Spartans.

The play is funny and sometimes silly but it is much easier to enjoy than the plays Aristophanes wrote at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, such as the Akharnians (Acharnians) or Lysistrata.

Aristophanes’ plays are sometimes difficult to appreciate because he was a very contemporary poet, i.e. he was writing for the Athenian audience of his day; he would use puns, parody regional accents and speak directly to the audience in ways that force modern translators to seek out the contextual meaning rather than the literal meaning of the poet’s words; for that reason, I suggest that if you find a translation that is difficult to enjoy, please don’t blame Aristophanes, simply look for a translation that you can enjoy.

There are numerous translations of this play but few of them are as readable as Richmond Lattimore’s version which is out of print but can still be found in the 882 section of your local library.