The play is notable for its absurd humour, its imaginative appeal for an end to the Peloponnesian War and for the author's spirited response to condemnations of his previous play, The Babylonians, by politicians such as Cleon, who had reviled it as a slander against the Athenian polis.
The Frogs tells the story of the god Dionysus, despairing of the state of Athens' tragedians, and allegedly recovering from the disastrous Battle of Arginusae.
Unlike the author's other early plays, it includes no direct mention of the Peloponnesian War and there are few references to Athenian politics, and yet it was staged not long after the commencement of the Sicilian Expedition, an ambitious military campaign that had greatly increased Athenian commitment to the war effort.
Mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient people, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices.
Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace - a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes.
Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the cosmos.
'The Trachinian Maidens' (also 'Women of Trachis' or 'The Trachiniae') is an Athenian tragedy by Sophocles, in which Deianeira, the wife of Heracles, is distraught over her husband's neglect of her family.
A conversational text that addresses many philosophical concepts as well as Western religion by questioning good versus evil and the unnecessary suffering of innocent people.
Similar to Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores another facet of good living by outlining the best governing practices that benefit the majority, and not the minority.
The Poetics is a fundamental text that examines the development, production and effectiveness of poetry as it pertains to a writer and their intended audience.
Though it tells the stories of the defeated, Prometheus Bound and Other Plays features four tragedies that depict both unfortunate demises and the essence of the fighting human spirit.
WHEN GODS TURN VENGEFUL, ONLY THE BRAVE CAN DEFY FATE AND FIND THEIR WAY HOMEDiscover the stunning conclusion to Stephen Fry's internationally bestselling Greek myths series'Relatable and full of humour ' GUARDIAN'Fry breathes contemporary relevance into these ancient tales' OBSERVER--After the fall of Troy, wily Odysseus, King of Ithaca, sails for home and his steadfast queen Penelope.
From the epic adventures of gods and heroes to tales of the world's beginning, this illustrated collection of myths and legends from Greece and Rome is a captivating exploration of the tales that shaped the ancient world.
Discover the captivating worlds of Ancient Greece and Rome in this detailed introduction to the age-old deities, festivals, and legendary tales that have shaped Western mythology and culture.
This book is two of the most famous and influential stories ever put to paper, providing the foundation for western literature for more than two millennia.