GRK 253 Aristophanes, Frogs Spring 2002 WEB SITES

This page lists only a few of the many sites on the WWW dealing with topics and materials relevant to Aristophanes' Frogs. As you browse through them, you will doubtless find many more interesting or useful pages--if so, please email the url to me and I'll add it to these postings!

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I. TEXTS AND LEXICAL TOOLS

Premier among all Classics sites for reading ancient Greek works is the Perseus Project, a comprehensive digital library of texts, lexical tools, and many other kinds of materials.

For our course, you will want to consult especially:
1. the text of the Frogs in Greek, with morphological links
2. the text of the Frogs in English (It's not always translated literally, but is lively and fun.)
3. the on-line version of the Intermediate Liddell-Scott Greek Lexicon, which also allows you to link to the full version of LSJ
4. the help-page which explains how to use the morphological tools
5. the on-line version of Smyth, Greek Grammar (first edition)
6. an overviewof Greek Syntax by Jeffrey A. Rydberg-Cox

Aristophanes' Frogs was produced in 405 BCE--just a year before the Athenian surrender to the Spartans ended the Peloponnesian War, and in the year following the important Battle of Arginusae (406 BCE). Many of the topical and contemporary references in the play will be opaque without some familiarity with the social, political, and military events which just preceded and followed Athens' defeat.

There are several on-line sources which can provide you with a guide to this material:

I. The last section of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, which breaks off in 411 BCE, and the first and second chapters of Xenophon's Hellenica, which picks up where Thucydides left off. (Read through at least section 2.2.1, which takes you up through 405 BCE.)

II. Ellis Knox's summary of the war. Begin with Section 10 (The Sicilian Expedition), and read through Section 17 (Results of the War).

III. A chronology of the years 431-399, from Ed Stephen's The Greek World of Mary Renault site.

IV. Kurt Kuhlmann, Historical Commentary [on the Peloponnesian War]; scroll down to the Section "The Ionian War" (413-404 BCE) and begin reading there. The section on "The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition" (421-413) is also useful.

V. Thomas Martin's Ancient Greece from Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times. You might want to begin with Section 12.1.19, which covers 406-404 BCE, and then go back in and fill in the years before and just after.

To fill in the years before and just after, begin with Section 12.1.12 (Lauching the Expedition to Sicilily), and read through the rest of Part 1 of Chapter 12.

Part 2 of Martin's Chapter 12 is also valuable for background. Link here to the beginning of Part 2 (Social and cultural life at Athens in war time). Sections 12.2.5 (Athenian comedy during the war), 12.2.6 (The humor and plots of Athenian comedy), and 12.2.7 (Comedy as criticism of official policy) of Part 2 are especially relevant for us.

The Perseus Encylopedia entries on Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes have details about each poet's life and works, as well as a bibliography of some of the major scholarly writings on each.

Aeschylus The Perseus Encylopedia entry by Gregory Crane. See especially the section "Importance and Influence of Aeschylus," where the assessment of Aeschylus' contribution to tragedy will resonate with aspects of our play.

Sophocles The Perseus Encylopedia entry by Gregory Crane.

Euripides The Perseus Encylopedia entry by David Kovacs. See especially the evaluation of the correspondence of the biographical tradition with the comic portrait.

Aristophanes The Perseus Encylopedia entry by Jeffrey Henderson. See especially the material on the relationship between Aristophanes and Cleon.

Introduction to Old Comedy by Roger Dunkle. A good introduction to the genre. See also Ian Storey, Poets, Politicans and Perverts" (listed on the Course Bibliography Page).

Staging by Walter Englert An introduction to stage production in antiquity, which takes you through the steps required for a poet seeking to have his tragedy produced at the Great Dionysia.

Illustrated Greek Theater by J. Siegel This site takes a while to load, since it has lots of images, but once you get it up, it will give you a good introduction to the general design of the ancient theater.

Didaskalia This site is dedicated to contemporary performance of ancient theater. It has subsidiary sites discussing and illustrating ancient Greek Stagecraft (including an Interactive Mask Model), and showing a 3D Reconstruction of the ancient theater of Dionysus.