The Birds (play)

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The Birds (play)

The Birds (Greek

Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
: Ornithes) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Aristophanes

Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a prolific and much acclaimed comedy playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays have come down to us virtually complete....
in 414 BC, and performed that year for the Festival of Dionysus

Dionysia

The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honor of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedy and, since 487 BC, Greek comedy....
.

Background
Unlike most of Aristophanes' plays, The Birds does not attack any specific person or event. However, it is likely inspired by the Athenian

Athens

Athens , the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery; as one of the List of cities by time of continuous habitation, its recorded history spans around 3,400 years....
invasion of the Greek colonies in Sicily

Sicily

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Background

Unlike most of Aristophanes' plays, The Birds does not attack any specific person or event. However, it is likely inspired by the Athenian

Athens

Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
in 415 BC. At the time the play was staged, in 414 BC, the outcome of which was far from certain and hopes for victory were high. Critics have tried in vain for some time to see praise or condemnation of the enterprise implied in the play, but no consensus has ever been reached.

Plot

Pisthetairos and Euelpides, frustrated with life in wartime Athens, search for Tereus

Tereus

In Greek mythology, Tereus was a son of Ares and husband of Procne. Procne and Tereus had a son, Itys.Tereus desired his wife's sister, Philomela ....
, a king who had been changed into a hoopoe

Hoopoe

The Hoopoe , Upupa epops, is a colourful bird that is found across Afro-Eurasia, notable for its distinctive 'crown' of feathers. It is the only species in the family Upupidae....
, in the realm of the birds in the sky. After reaching the sky and meeting a descendant of Tereus, they convince the birds to help them create Nephelokokkygia (or Nephelococcygia, "Cloudcuckooland

Cloud cuckoo land

Cloud Cuckoo Land refers to an unrealistically idealistic state where everything is perfect. It hints that the person referred to is na?ve, unaware of reality or deranged in holding such an optimistic belief....
"). Pisthetairos and Euelpides are given feathers and wings by the birds, and Pisthetairos quickly takes over the new city as a demagogue and tyrant

Tyrant

This article is about the political ruler. For other uses see Tyrant and Tyranny In modern usage, a tyrant is a single ruler holding absolute political power over a state or within an organization....
.

Pisthetairos has the birds build an enormous wall (200 m high), and expels every annoying visitor who arrives in the city. Among the various visitors are a poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
, singing ancient praises of the newly created city, a lawyer

Lawyer

A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an Attorney at law, counsel or solicitor; a person licensed to practice fraud." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain stability, and deliver justice....
selling all the latest legal documents, and the goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
Iris

Iris (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Iris is the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. As the sun unites Earth and heaven, Iris links the gods to humanity....
who flies through the city not knowing that the walls are supposed to stop her. Prometheus

Prometheus

In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to human beings for their use....
also arrives to inform Pisthetairos that the city has become the focus of humanity's worship and sacrifice

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is commonly known as the practice of offering food, objects , or the lives of animals or people to the deity as an act of propitiation or worship....
s, which are no longer being received by the gods. A delegation from the gods, led by Poseidon

Poseidon

In Greek mythology, Poseidon was the god of the sea and, as "Earth-Shaker," of earthquakes. The name of the god Nethuns in Etruscan mythology was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon....
and Heracles

Heracles

In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles meaning "glory of Hera", or "Glorious through Hera" Alcides or Alcaeus " was a hero, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus....
, comes to negotiate for the sacrifices, and they eventually allow Pisthetairos to marry Zeus' maid Basileia

Basileia

Basileia may refer to:*One of the daughters of Uranus*The royal palace, or citadel, of Atlantis, as described by the Greek philosopher Plato in the Critias...
, who is the true force behind Zeus' control of Heaven

Heaven

Heaven may refer to the physical heavens, the atmosphere or the seemingly endless expanse of the universe beyond. This is the traditional literal meaning of the term in English, however since at least AD 1000, it is typically also used to refer to an afterlife plane of existence in various religions and spirituality philosophy, often descri...
. The play ends as Pisthetairos realizes he is the new ruler of the gods, and the audience is called upon to celebrate the new tyrant of the universe.

Pisthetairos is at first an ordinary man with whom the audience can sympathize in his quest for a utopia

Utopia

Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, taken from the Utopia written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect social system-politics-legal system....
. However, Cloudcuckooland transforms from an egalitarian state to a dictatorship

Dictatorship

A dictatorship is usually defined as an Autocracy form of government in which the government is ruled by an individual, the dictator, without hereditary ascension....
as Pisthetairos acquires a fancy for tyranny

Tyrant

This article is about the political ruler. For other uses see Tyrant and Tyranny In modern usage, a tyrant is a single ruler holding absolute political power over a state or within an organization....
.

The parabasis
Parabasis

In Greek comedy, the parabasis is a point in the play when all of the actors leave the stage and the Greek Chorus is left to address the audience directly....
of the play, in which the chorus

Greek chorus

The Greek chorus is a group of twelve or fifteen minor actors in tragedy and twenty-four in Ancient Greek comedy plays of classical Athens....
of birds talks directly to the audience, takes place as the characters transition from Tereus' home to the new city in the clouds. It involves a discussion of the importance of birds to the universe

Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
and the alleged travesties performed on them by humans, including keeping them in cages as pets and cooking them as food. The chorus then promises not to defecate on the audience if they give the play first prize. The parabasis is unique among the plays of Aristophanes, in that the chorus does not "break character" to address the audience, but remains in character as birds throughout.

Translations

John Hookham Frere
John Hookham Frere

John Hookham Frere , was an England diplomat and author.He was born in London. His father, John Frere, a gentleman of a good Suffolk family, had been educated at Caius College, Cambridge, and would have been senior wrangler in 1763 but for the redoubtable competition of William Paley; his mother, daughter of John Hookham, a rich London mer...
, 1839 - verse
William James Hickie, 1853 - prose,
Benjamin B. Rogers, 1924 - verse
Arthur S. Way
Arthur S. Way

Arthur Sanders Way was an English people classical scholar and poet, born at Dorking. He was educated at Kingswood School, Bath, Somerset, and at Queen's College , Melbourne, where he was afterward fellow....
, 1934 - verse
Eugene O'Neill, Jr, 1938 - prose:
Dudley Fitts
Dudley Fitts

Dudley Fitts was an United States teacher, critic, poet, andtranslator. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Harvard University where he edited the Harvard Advocate....
, 1957 - prose and verse
William Arrowsmith
William Arrowsmith

William Ayers Arrowsmith was an American classicist. This man of letters was educated at Princeton and Oxford, and was awarded ten honorary degrees....
, 1962 - verse
Alan H. Sommerstein, 1987 - prose
George Theodoridis 2002 - prose:
Ian Johnston, 2003 - verse:
unknown translator - prose:
Claudia Haas and Richard Cash - play: