Aristophanes, The Frogs

Holly Hunt (University of Oxford)

Ed. by Victoria Fendel, University of Oxford
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.1: Greek Writing and Culture: Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic and Imperial, -800--100.
Vol. editors: Eleni Bozia (University of Florida), Jonathan Burgess (University of Toronto), Anca Dan (École Practique de Hautes Études PSL), Martine Diepenbroek (University of Johannesburg), Giacomo Fedeli (University of Exeter), Victoria Fendel (University of Oxford), Nicole Kennedy (University of Newcastle), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Vaios Liapis (Open University of Cyprus), Elodie Paillard (University of Sydney), Mali Skotheim (Ashoka University), Laura Swift (The Open University), Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti (University of Liverpool)

Dates

First circulation or publication -405

Places

Ancient Greece (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Comedy
Play

Resources

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Introduction

Frogs was produced at a key moment in Athens’ history. The play was first performed at the Lenaea festival of 405 BCE, just over a year before a much-depleted Athens would accept defeat in the Peloponnesian War. On top of this looming danger, two of the city’s favoured tragic playwrights, Euripides and Sophocles, had recently passed away. The situation was hardly ripe for comedy, and yet Aristophanes managed to make a comedy where the plot revolves around the death of Euripides, and which ultimately reveals itself to be concerned with the dire situation in which the city found itself, as the god Dionysus and his quick-witted slave journey down to the Underworld to retrieve a tragic playwright whose advice could save Athens.

Frogs

was produced at a key moment in Athens’…

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2648 words

Citation: Hunt, Holly. "The Frogs". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 April 2025 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13328, accessed 28 April 2025.]

Aristophanes, The Frogs

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