The Frogs

Aristophanes

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Comedies

Greek drama (Comedy)
Greece--History--Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C.
Athens (Greece)--History

• designation: CollectionText
• size: 1 file: ca. 461 KB

1982-present

The frogs / Aristophanes : edited with introduction, revised text, commentary and index by W.B. Stanford Aristophanes Stanford, William Bedell : 2nd ed. lx, 211 p. : 18 cm. Macmillan London: 1963 :

Note: Includes bibliography and index

Mode of access: Online. OTA website

At the time of the production of this play, Athens and her allies have been at war with Sparta and her allies (from 431-404 BC with some brief interludes). Things have not gone so well for Athens. Indeed, in 411 there was a brief oligarchic coup. And in 404, just a year after this play was produced, Sparta will support a second coup by another oligarchic group called the Thirty, thus bringing the war to an ill end for the Athenians. Aristophanes has Dionysos seeking a way to restore Athens to her former glory through a revival of tragedy. After the deaths of Euripides in 405 BC and Sophocles immediately after, the future of tragedy seemed dark.

Also available at: http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/aristophanes/frogs.htm