Frogs
Aristophanes' comedy in which Dionysus journeys to Hades to bring back a great tragic poet
The Meaning of Frogs
Frogs was performed at the Lenaia festival in 405 BCE, shortly after the deaths of both Euripides and Sophocles had left Athens without a living master tragedian. The god Dionysus, despairing at the poor quality of current playwrights, disguises himself as Heracles and descends to the underworld to retrieve Euripides. Accompanied by his slave Xanthias, Dionysus endures a series of comic misadventures — being beaten, terrified by monsters, and mocked by a chorus of frogs who croak their famous refrain. Upon reaching Hades, he discovers that Euripides has challenged Aeschylus for the throne of greatest tragedian. A literary contest ensues, with each poet's verses literally weighed on a scale. Dionysus, who came seeking Euripides, ultimately chooses Aeschylus as the poet Athens truly needs in its hour of crisis. The play is both a brilliant literary parody and a meditation on the civic responsibility of art during wartime.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Frogs was so popular that it received the unprecedented honour of a second performance at a subsequent festival, a distinction no other comedy achieved
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
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