Aristophanes
Book description
Aristophanes's satirical masterpieces, immensely popular with the Athenian public, were frequently crude, even obscene. His plays revealed to his contemporaries, and now teach us today, that when those in power act obscenely, patriotic obscenity is a fitting response. Until now English translations have failed to capture Aristophanes's poetic genius. Aaron…
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Why read it?
1 author picked Aristophanes as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I’m a bird-watching addict, and I’m not alone. Birds have fascinated humans since ancient times—as omens for generals and kings, weathervanes for farmers, a source of food for all and sundry, and as symbols throughout classical Greek literature.
Aristophanes’ Birds turns up the dial, by having birds as the central characters in this comic masterpiece, which won second prize at the City Dionysia festival in 414 BCE.
I love this play because it remains accessible two-and-a-half millennia later. The jokes remain fresh, sometimes bawdy, and so relevant it’s almost scary. Also, the conception is daring, as the birds intercept the…
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