Description

Book Synopsis
A comedy about tragedy and a play about playmaking, Aristophanes' Frogs (405 BCE) is perhaps the most popular of ancient comedies. This new introduction guides students through the play, its themes and contemporary contexts, and its reception history. Frogs offers sustained engagement with the Athenian literary scene, with the politics of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, and with the religious understanding of the fifth-century city. It presents the earliest direct criticism of theatre and a detailed description of the Underworld, and also dramatizes the place of Mystery cults in the religious life of Athens and shows the political concerns that galvanized the citizens. It is also genuinely funny, showcasing a range of comic techniques, including literary and musical parody, political invective, grotesque distortion, wordplay, prop comedy, and funny costumes. Frogs has inspired literary works by Henry Fielding, George Bernard Shaw, and Tom Stoppar

Trade Review
This volume is a perfect companion to Frogs: essential and joyful for anyone reading, teaching or performing Aristophanes, or really any ancient Greek play. -- Wilfred Major, Associate Professor of Classics, Louisiana State University, USA

Table of Contents
List of Figures Preface Hopping: Some Ways to Read this Book 1. Dionysus 2. Lenaia 3. Aristophanes 4. Hero 5. Names 6. Costumes (Frogs 1-51) 7. Yearning (Frogs 52-107) 8. Underworlds (Frogs 108-66) 9. Warships (Frogs 167-208) 10. Croaking (Frogs 209-68) 11. Monsters (Frogs 269-322) 12. Eleusis (Frogs 323-459) 13. Disguise (Frogs 460-604) 14. Torture (Frogs 605-73) 15. Parabasis (Frogs 674-737) 16. Xanthias (Frogs 738-829) 17. Contest (Frogs 830-94) 18. Teachers (Frogs 895-1098) 19. Prologues (Frogs 1099-1247) 20. Songs (Frogs 1248-1364) 21. Scales (Frogs 1365-1410) 22. Alcibiades (Frogs 1411-66) 23. Aeschylus (Frogs 1467-1533) 24. Euripides: a Heresy 25. Reperformance 26. Afterlife 27. Translations 28. Twentieth-Century Frogs 29. Seriously Readings Bibliography

Aristophanes Frogs

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Order before 4pm today for delivery by Tue 30 Dec 2025.

A Paperback / softback by C. W. Marshall

5 in stock


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    Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
    Publication Date: 12/11/2020
    ISBN13: 9781350080911, 978-1350080911
    ISBN10: 1350080918
    Also in:
    Literary studies: ancient, classical Literary studies: plays and playwrights

    Description

    Book Synopsis
    A comedy about tragedy and a play about playmaking, Aristophanes' Frogs (405 BCE) is perhaps the most popular of ancient comedies. This new introduction guides students through the play, its themes and contemporary contexts, and its reception history. Frogs offers sustained engagement with the Athenian literary scene, with the politics of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War, and with the religious understanding of the fifth-century city. It presents the earliest direct criticism of theatre and a detailed description of the Underworld, and also dramatizes the place of Mystery cults in the religious life of Athens and shows the political concerns that galvanized the citizens. It is also genuinely funny, showcasing a range of comic techniques, including literary and musical parody, political invective, grotesque distortion, wordplay, prop comedy, and funny costumes. Frogs has inspired literary works by Henry Fielding, George Bernard Shaw, and Tom Stoppar

    Trade Review
    This volume is a perfect companion to Frogs: essential and joyful for anyone reading, teaching or performing Aristophanes, or really any ancient Greek play. -- Wilfred Major, Associate Professor of Classics, Louisiana State University, USA

    Table of Contents
    List of Figures Preface Hopping: Some Ways to Read this Book 1. Dionysus 2. Lenaia 3. Aristophanes 4. Hero 5. Names 6. Costumes (Frogs 1-51) 7. Yearning (Frogs 52-107) 8. Underworlds (Frogs 108-66) 9. Warships (Frogs 167-208) 10. Croaking (Frogs 209-68) 11. Monsters (Frogs 269-322) 12. Eleusis (Frogs 323-459) 13. Disguise (Frogs 460-604) 14. Torture (Frogs 605-73) 15. Parabasis (Frogs 674-737) 16. Xanthias (Frogs 738-829) 17. Contest (Frogs 830-94) 18. Teachers (Frogs 895-1098) 19. Prologues (Frogs 1099-1247) 20. Songs (Frogs 1248-1364) 21. Scales (Frogs 1365-1410) 22. Alcibiades (Frogs 1411-66) 23. Aeschylus (Frogs 1467-1533) 24. Euripides: a Heresy 25. Reperformance 26. Afterlife 27. Translations 28. Twentieth-Century Frogs 29. Seriously Readings Bibliography

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