The Birds and Other Plays

by Aristophanes, David Barrett (Introduction), Alan H. Sommerstein (Introduction), Alan H. Sommerstein (Translator), David Barrett (Translator)

Overview

The plays in this volume all contain Aristophanes' trademark bawdy comedy and dazzling verbal agility. In THE BIRDS, two frustrated Athenians join the birds to build the utopian city of 'Much Cuckoo in the Clouds'. THE KNIGHTS is a venomous satire on Cleon, a prominent Athenian demagogue, while THE ASSEMBLY WOMEN deals with the battle of the sexes as the women of Athens infiltrate the all-male Assembly in disguise. The lengthy conflict with Sparta is the subject of PEACE, inspired by the hope of a settlement in 421 BC, and WEALTH reflects on the economic catastrophe that hit Athens after the war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780141913223
Publisher:	Penguin UK
Publication date:	09/25/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	419 KB

About the Author

Little is known about Aristophanes' life (c. 445BC-c.386BC), but there is a portrait of him in Plato's Symposium. His first comedy was produced when he was 20 and he wrote 40 plays in the course of his life. David Barrett has translated a number of ancient Greek texts for Penguin Classics.

Table of Contents

	About the Author	7
	Aristophanes in Antiquity	9
	Aristophanes, Comedian and Poet	21
	The Knights	29
	Peace	91
	The Birds	147
	The Assemblywomen	215
	Wealth	265
	Notes	313
	Select Bibliography	336