The Frogs
by Aristophanes · Βάτραχοι
Assigned by 3 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 405 BCE
- Form
- Comedy
- Language
- Greek
- Length
- Short · 100 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendFrogs and Other Plays, translated by David Barrett, revised by Shomit DuttaPenguin Classics, 2007Keeps the jokes alive and annotates the literary parodies; also contains Wasps and Women at the Thesmophoria.
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With Euripides and Sophocles both dead, the god Dionysus, patron of drama, decides Athens needs a good tragedian back and goes down to Hades to fetch Euripides. Disguised as Heracles and accompanied by his slave Xanthias, he rows across the underworld lake to a chorus of croaking frogs and survives a series of beatings and identity swaps. In Hades he finds Aeschylus and Euripides fighting over the throne of tragedy and is made judge. After a contest of quotations weighed on scales, he chooses Aeschylus, the poet who can save the city.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Frogs are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
