The Frogs

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The Frogs

Frogs (Ancient 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....
: ) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes

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....
. It was performed at the Lenaia

Lenaia

The Lenaia was an annual festival with a dramatic competition but one of the lesser festivals of Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. The Lenaia took place in the month of Gamelion, roughly corresponding to January....
, one of the Festivals of Dionysus

Festivals of Dionysus

Festivals of Dionysus may refer to several celebrations held in Athens in honor of the Greek god Dionysus:*The Dionysia, a festival of the Rural Dionysia and the City Dionysia, the central event of which was the performance and judging of tragedy and Greek comedy...
, in 405 BC, and received first place.

he Frogs tells the story of the god Dionysus

Dionysus

In classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos , is the God of wine, the inspirer of ritual madness and ecstasy, and a major figure of Greek mythology, and one of the twelve Olympians, among whom Greek mythology treated Dionysus as a late arrival....
, despairing of the state of Athens' tragedians

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
, and allegedly recovering from the disastrous Battle of Arginusae

Battle of Arginusae

Hades

Hades refers both to the ancient Greek underworld, the abode of Hades, and to the god of the underworld. Hades in Homer referred just to the god; the genitive case , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades"....
to bring Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was the last of the three great tragedy of classical Athens . Ancient scholars thought that Euripides had written ninety-five plays, although four of those were probably written by Critias....
back from the dead. He brings along his slave Xanthias

Xanthias

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Encyclopedia

Frogs (Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek

Aristophanes

Lenaia

Festivals of Dionysus

Plot

The Frogs tells the story of the god Dionysus

Dionysus

Tragedy

Battle of Arginusae

Hades

Euripides

Xanthias

Xanthias refers to several characters, notably all slave, who appear in plays by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes.In The Frogs, Xanthias is the slave of Dionysus....
, who is smarter, stronger, more rational, more prudent, and braver than Dionysus. The play opens as Xanthias and Dionysus argue over what kind of complaints Xanthias can use to open the play comically.

To find a reliable path to Tartarus, Dionysus seeks advice from his half-brother 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....
who had been there before in order to retrieve the hell hound Cerberus

Cerberus

Cerberus is the name given to the entity which, in Greek mythology and Roman mythology, is a multi-headed dog which guards the gates of Hades, to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping....
. Dionysus shows up at his doorstep dressed in a lion-hide and carrying a club. Heracles, upon seeing the effeminate Dionysus dressed up like himself, can't help but laugh. At the question of which road is quickest to get to Hades, Heracles replies with the options of hanging yourself, drinking poison, or jumping off a tower. Dionysus opts for the longer journey across a lake (possibly Lake Acheron

Acheron

The Acheron is a river located in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. It flows into the Ionian Sea in Ammoudia, Preveza, near Parga....
); the one which Heracles took himself.

When Dionysus arrives at the river, Charon

Charon (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead....
ferries him across. Xanthias, being a slave, is not allowed in the boat, because he was unable to take part in the Battle of Arginusae

Battle of Arginusae

The naval Battle of Arginusae took place in 406 BC during the Peloponnesian War just east of the island of Lesbos. In the battle, an Athens fleet commanded by eight strategos defeated a Spartan fleet under Callicratidas....
, and has to walk around it. As Dionysus helps row, he hears a chorus of croaking frogs (the only scene in the play featuring frogs). Their chant— (Hellènic

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....
: )—is constantly repeated, and Dionysus chants with them. When he arrives at the shore, Dionysus meets up with Xanthias, who teases him by claiming to see the frightening monster Empusa

Empusa

Empusa is a demigoddess of Greek mythology. In later incarnations she appeared as a species of monsters commanded by Hecate .She is often associated or grouped with the demigoddesses Lamia_ and Mormo, who were likewise demoted to a species of underworld demon in later mythology ....
. A second chorus composed of spirits of Dionysian Mystics

Dionysian Mysteries

The Dionysian Mysteries probably began as an ancient initiation society, or family of similar societies, centred on a primeval nature god , apparently associated with horned animals, serpents and solitary predators , later known to the Greeks in the eclectic figure of Dionysus....
soon appear.

The next encounter is with Aeacus

Aeacus

Aeacus was a Greek mythology king of the island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf.He was son of Zeus and Aegina , a daughter of the river-god Asopus....
, who mistakes Dionysus for Heracles due to his attire. Still angry over Heracles' theft of Cerberus, Aeacus threatens to unleash several monsters on him in revenge. Scared, Dionysus trades clothes with Xanthias. A maid then arrives and is happy to see Heracles. She invites him to a feast with virgin dancing girls, and Xanthias is more than happy to oblige. But Dionysus quickly wants to trade back the clothes. Dionysus, back in the Heracles lion-skin, encounters more people angry at Heracles, and so he makes Xanthias trade a third time.

When Aeacus returns, Xanthias tells him he should torture Dionysus to obtain the truth as to whether or not he is really a thief, and he offers several brutal options in which to do it. The terrified Dionysus tells the truth that he is a god. After each is whipped, Dionysus is brought before Aeacus' masters, and the truth is verified.

Dionysus then finds Euripides in the middle of a conflict. Euripides, who had only just recently died, is challenging the great Aeschylus

Aeschylus

Aeschylus was an Ancient Greece playwright. He is often recognized as the father or the founder of tragedy, and is the earliest of the three Greek tragedy whose Play survive extant, the others being Sophocles and Euripides....
to the seat of 'Best Tragic Poet' at the dinner table of Hades. A contest is held with Dionysus as judge. The two playwrights take turns quoting verses from their plays and making fun of the other. Euripides argues the characters in his plays are better because they are more true to life and logical, whereas Aeschylus believes his idealized characters are better as they are heroic and models for virtue. Aeschylus gets the upper hand in the argument, and begins making a fool of Euripides. He shows that Euripides' verse is predictable and formulaic by having Euripides quote lines from many of his prologue

Prologue

Prologue , or prolog, is a preferred piece of writing. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance, embracing any kind of preface, like the Latin praefatio....
s, each time interjecting with "…lost his little bottle of oil." Euripides counters by setting Aeschylus' lyric verse to flute music, showing that it easily conforms to iambic tetrameter, expressed by the segment "oho what a stroke come you not to the rescue" (Lattimore translation) from Aeschylus' lost play Myrmidons
Achilles (play)

Achilleis is the convenient modern designation of a trilogy of plays written by the tragedy Aeschylus. It follows the Greek hero Achilles during the Trojan War, wherein he defeats Hector and eventually gets killed by Paris when an arrow punctures his heel....
. Aeschylus retorts to this by mocking Euripides' choral meters and lyric monodies with castanets.

To end the debate, a balance is brought in and each are told to tell a few lines into it. Whoever's lines have the most "weight" will cause the balance to tip in their favor. Aeschylus wins, but Dionysus is still unable to decide whom he will revive. He finally decides to take the poet who gives the best advice about how to save the city. Euripides gives cleverly worded but essentially meaningless answers while Aeschylus provides more practical advice, and Dionysus decides to take Aeschylus back instead of Euripides. Before leaving, Aeschylus proclaims that Sophocles

Sophocles

Sophocles was the second of the three classical Greece tragedy whose work has survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus and earlier than those of Euripides....
should have his chair while he is gone, not Euripides.

Critical Analysis

Politics

Kenneth Dover asserts that the underlying political theme of The Frogs is essentially “old ways good, new ways bad”. He points to 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....
for evidence of this: “The antepirrhema of the parabasis (718-37) urges the citizen-body to reject the leadership of those whom it now follows, upstarts of foreign parentage (730-2), and turn back to men of known integrity who were brought up in the style of noble and wealthy families” (Dover 33). Kleophon is mentioned in the ode of the parabasis (674-85), and is both “vilified as a foreigner” (680-2) and maligned at the end of the play (1504, 1532).

The Frogs deviates from the pattern of political standpoint offered in Aristophanes’ earlier works, such as The Acharnians
The Acharnians

The Acharnians is the third play - and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays - by the great Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BCE on behalf of the young dramatist by an associate, Callistratus, and it won first place at the Lenaia festival....
(425 BC), Peace
Peace (play)

Peace is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was staged in 421 BC and was awarded second prize at the City Dionysia festival....
(421 BC), and Lysistrata
Lysistrata

Lysistrata is one of the few surviving plays written by the master of Aristophanes#Aristophanes and Old Comedy, Aristophanes. Originally performed in Classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War....
(411 BC), which have all been termed 'peace' plays. The Frogs is not often thus labeled, however – Dover points out that though Kleophon was adamantly opposed to any peace which did not come of victory, and the last lines of the play suggest Athens

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....
ought to look for a less stubborn end to the war, Aeschylus’ advice (1463-5) lays out a plan to win and not a proposition of capitulation. Also, The Frogs contains solid, serious messages which represent significant differences from general critiques of policy and idealistic thoughts of good peace terms. During the parabasis, Aristophanes presents advice to give the rights of citizens back to people who had participated in the oligarchic

Oligarchy

Oligarchy is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small Elitism segment of society distinguished by royalty, wealth, family, military influence or occult spiritual hegemony....
revolution in 411 BC, arguing they were misled by Phrynichos

Phrynichus

Phrynichus may refer to:*Phrynichus, a genus in the Amblypygi, an order of arachnids...
' 'tricks' (literally 'wrestlings'). Phrynichos was a leader of the oligarchic revolution who was assassinated, to general satisfaction, in 411. This proposal was simple enough to be instated by a single act of the assembly, and was actually put into effect by Patrokleides’ decree after the loss of the fleet at Aegospotami

Battle of Aegospotami

The naval Battle of Aegospotami took place in 405 BC and was the last major battle of the Peloponnesian War. In the battle, a Spartan fleet under Lysander completely destroyed the Athenian navy....
. The anonymous Life states that this advice was the basis of Aristophanes’ receipt of the olive wreath, and the author of the ancient Hypothesis says admiration of the parabasis was the major factor that led to the play's second production.

J.T. Sheppard contends that the exiled general Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides , was a prominent History of Athens statesman, oratory, and general. He was the last famous member of his mother's aristocratic family, the Alcmaeonidae, which fell from prominence after the Peloponnesian War....
is a main focus of The Frogs. At the time the play was written and produced, Athens was in dire straits in the war with the Peloponnesian League

Peloponnesian League

The Peloponnesian League was an alliance of states in the Peloponnese in the 6th century BC and 5th century BC.By the end of the 6th century, Sparta had become the most powerful state in the Peloponnese, and was the political and military hegemon over Argos, the next most powerful state....
, and the people, Sheppard claims, would logically have Alcibiades on their minds. Sheppard quotes a segment of text from near the beginning of the parabasis:

He states that though this text ostensibly refers to citizens dispossessed of their rights, it will actually evoke memories of Alcibiades, the Athenians' exiled hero. Further support includes the presentation of the chorus, who recites these lines, as initiates

Initiation

Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components....
of the mysteries

Eleusinian Mysteries

The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremony held every year for the Cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance....
. This, Sheppard says, will also prompt recollection of Alcibiades, whose initial exile was largely based on impiety regarding these religious institutions. Continuing this thought, the audience is provoked into remembering Alcibiades' return in 408 BC, when he made his peace with the goddesses. The reason Aristophanes hints so subtly at these points, according to Sheppard, is because Alcibiades still had many rivals in Athens, such as Kleophon and Adeimantus

Adeimantus, son of Leucolophides

Adeimantus , son of Leucolophides, an Athens, was one of the commanders with Alcibiades in the ex?pedition against Andros in 407 BC. He was again appointed one of the Athe?nian generals after the Battle of Arginusae in 406 BC, and continued in office till the Battle of Aegospotami in 404 BC, where he was one of the com?manders, and was taken...
, who are both blasted in the play. Sheppard also cites Aeschylus during the prologue debate, when the poet quotes from The Oresteia
The Oresteia

The Oresteia is a trilogy of Theatre of ancient Greece tragedy written by Aeschylus which concerns the end of the curse on the House of Atreus....
:

This choice of excerpt again relates to Alcibiades, still stirring his memory in the audience. Sheppard concludes by referencing the direct mention of Alcibiades' name, which occurs in the course of Dionysus' final test of the poets, seeking advice about Alcibiades himself and a strategy for victory. Though Euripides first blasts Alcibiades, Aeschylus responds with the advice to bring him back, bringing the subtle allusions to a clearly stated head and concluding Aristophanes' point.

Structure of The Frogs

According to Kenneth Dover the structure of The Frogs is as follows: In the first section Dionysus' has the goal of gaining admission to Pluto

Pluto

Pluto , Minor planet names Pluto, is the second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-largest body observed directly orbiting the Sun....
's palace, and he does so by line 673. The parabasis follows, (lines 674-737) and in the dialogue between the slaves a power struggle between Euripides and Aeschylus is revealed. Euripides is jealous of the other's place as the greatest tragic poet. Pluto is asked by Dionysus to mediate the contest or agon.

Charles Paul Segal argues that The Frogs is unique in its structure, because it combines two forms of comic motifs, a journey motif and a contest motif or agon
Agon

Agon is an ancient Greek word with several meanings:*In one sense, it meant a contest, competition, or challenge that was held in connection with religious festivals....
motif, with each motif being given equal weight in the play.

Segal contends that Aristophanes transformed the Greek comedy structure when he downgraded the contest or agon which usually preceded the parabasis and expanded the parabasis into the agon. In Aristophanes' earlier plays, i.e., The Acharnians and The Birds
The Birds (play)

The Birds is a Greek comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes in 414 BC, and performed that year for the Dionysia....
, the protagonist is victorious prior to the parabasis and after the parabasis is usually shown implementing his reforms. Segal suggests this deviation gave a tone of seriousness to the play. For more detail see Old Comedy
Ancient Greek comedy

Comedy was one of two principal dramatic forms in ancient Greece, the other being tragedy. Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods, Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, and New Comedy....
.

Sophocles
Sophocles is mentioned only a few times in The Frogs, and readers new to the play may wonder why he is excluded from the competition of poets. Aristophanes excuses Sophocles' absence by Dionysus' and Aeacus' explanations when asked about him: Dionysus replies to Heracles that he wishes to test Sophocles' son Iophon
Iophon

Iophon was an Ancient Greece tragic poet and son of Sophocles.Iophon gained the second prize in tragic competition in 428 BC, Euripides being first, and Ion third....
's skill, and Aeacus tells Xanthias that Sophocles held Aeschylus in high respect and did not dispute Aeschylus' position. Dover questions the dearth of Sophocles' presence, and explains it with respect to the play's time of composition. Aristophanes began composing The Frogs after Euripides' death around 406 BC, while Sophocles still lived. Sophocles' death during that year may have forced Aristophanes to adjust some details of the play, but if the work was already in its late stages, the changes could easily have taken the form of the few mentions of Sophocles in the surviving work.
Translations

Charles Cavendish Clifford, 1848, verse:
Gilbert Murray
Gilbert Murray

George Gilbert Aim? Murray was a United Kingdom classical scholar and public intellectual, with connections in many spheres. He was an outstanding scholar of the language and culture of Ancient Greece, perhaps the leading authority in the first half of the twentieth century....
, 1902, rhyming verse
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
Richmond Lattimore
Richmond Lattimore

Richmond Alexander Lattimore was an United States poet and translator known for his translations of the Greece classics, especially his versions of the Iliad and Odyssey, which are generally considered as among the best English translations available....
, 1962, verse
David Barret, 1964, prose and verse
Matthew Dillon, 1995, verse:
Steven Killen ET AL., 2006, prose and verse
George Theodoridis, 2006, prose, full text:

Additional Resources

in Greek (from Perseus)
on Everything2
Everything2

Everything2, Everything2, or E2 for short, is a collaborative World Wide Web-based community consisting of a database of interlinked user-submitted written material....