The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2

نمایشنامه‌های آریستوفان #2

by Aristophanes

For the 1st time literally & completely translated from Greek into English:
Acharnians (Ἀχαρνεῖς, Acharnenses) 425
The Knights (Ἱππεῖς, Equites) 424
The Clouds (Νεφέλαι, Nubes) Original 423, incomplete 419-16 revision extant
The Wasps (Σφήκες, Vespae) 422
Peace (Εἰρήνη, Pax) 1st version, 421
The Birds (Ὄρνιθες, Aves) 414
Lysistrata (Λυσιστράτη) 411
Thesmophoriazusae=Women Celebrating the Thesmophoria (Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι) 1st version, c. 411
The Frogs (Βάτραχοι, Ranae) 405
Ecclesiazusae=Assemblywomen (Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι) c. 392
Plutus=Wealth (Πλοῦτος) 2nd version, 388

Genres: Classics, Plays

Paperback

First published December 26, 2012

About the author

Aristophanes (Greek: Αριστοφάνης; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."