c1890-1910 The Plays of Aristophanes

Description

Author's Presentation Copy, Illustrated, Original Binding, Publishers' Original Binding

Five volumes. Presentation copy with an ink inscription from Rogers to the half-title of The Wasps of Aristophanes which reads "from the Author". A collection of some of the surviving plays of Aristophanes, an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens who wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of Aristophanes' surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples. Known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes wrote plays that often dealt with real-life figures, including Euripides and Alcibiades, and contemporary events, such as the Peloponnesian War. This set contains: The Wasps of Aristophanes, Acted at Athens at the Lenaean Festival, B.C. 422. Following a son's attempt to stop his father from constantly serving jury duties as it is detrimental to his father's health. It also serves as a parody of Cleon; a figure Aristophanes was publicly critical of. The Peace of Aristophanes, Acted at Athens at the Great Dionysia, B.C. 421. Trygaeus, a middle-aged Athenian, miraculously brings about a peaceful end to the Peloponnesian War, thereby earning the gratitude of farmers while bankrupting various tradesmen. The Thesmophoriazusae of Aristophanes, Acted at Athens in the Year B.C. 410. A bold statement by Euripides is the absurd premise upon which the whole play depends. A group of women are incensed by his plays' portrayal of the female sex as mad, murderous, and sexually depraved, so they use the festival of the Thesmophoria as an opportunity to plan their revenge. The Frogs of Aristophanes, Acted at Athens in the Year B.C. 405. Dionysus is travelling with his slave Xanthias to the underworld, intending to bring the playwright Euripides back from the dead, in order to correct what he sees as the sorry state of Athens' tragedians. The Ecclesiazusae of Aristophanes, Acted in Athens in the Year B.C. 393. The play begins with Praxagora emerging from a house wearing a false beard and men's clothing, soon other women follow her lead. The action continues to invent a scenario where the women of Athens assume control of the government and institute reforms that ban private wealth and enforce sexual equity. The Greek text revised, with a translation into corresponding meters, and original notes by Benjamin Bickley Rogers, an English classical scholar who devoted himself exclusively to literature.