Aristophanes, The Birds

Ian Storey (Trent University)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error
Birds

was produced in 414 BCE at the festival of the City Dionysia in Athens “through Kallistratos”, where it won the second prize. We know that Aristophanes used other men (Kallistratos, Philonides, his son Araros) to produce his comedies, not just in his early years (427-425), but throughout his dramatic career.

Two Athenians, Euelpides (“Good Hope”) and Peisetairos (“Persuasive Companion”), having fled Athens to avoid the annoyances of politics and the law courts, seek out Tereus, a mythical human with Athenian connections, now transformed into a hoopoe, a magpie-like bird with a very distinctive crest. Here Peisetairos has his great idea: to found a city in the clouds and by intercepting the worship and sacrifices of humanity to starve the gods into submission. He persuades

2173 words

Citation: Storey, Ian. "The Birds". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 06 August 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=13331, accessed 19 March 2024.]

13331 The Birds 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.