GRK 25 Aristophanes' Frogs

In this class, we will read Aristophanes’ Frogs. The play was performed in 405 BCE, a few months before Athens’ defeat at the hands of Sparta and eventual surrender in the Peloponnesian War. Euripides and Sophocles had recently died, and Aeschylus had been dead for fifty years. There was an impending sense of doom in the air at the time of the production – both culturally (the end of tragedy) and historically (the end of the Athenian empire).

The Frogs displays a bewildering mix of themes, ranging from bowel humor, literary criticism, education, to notions about salvation and the afterlife. We will explore all of those topics in this class. We will also pay attention to comedy as a genre and the stylistic conventions it employs.   

 

Instructor

Tell

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:LIT; WCult:W

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Offered

• Fall