The Frogs is a comic play by Aristophanes from around 405 BC.
Yes, that’s a really long time ago and it’s based on a civilisation that is long dead. No, I don’t speak ancient Greek so I had to really on a translation. Yes, some of the jokes are about things lost in the mists of history and I have no idea why they were found funny.
Amongst other things, I’d be interested to understand why that title was used, seeing as frogs only turn up for one scene in the whole play and that’s mostly just to sing a song. Their croaking refrain annoys one of the main characters but is hardly central to the plot.
The play is still pretty funny though and it’s based on the slightly ridiculous premise that Dionysus (known as Bacchus to the Romans, the god of wine, fertility and madness) thinks that all the current playwrights are rubbish so goes to the underworld to get back Euripides (a tragedian who’d died the year before).
The bit that really stuck me though was this:
DIONYSUS Have you e’er felt a sudden lust for soup?
HERACLES Soup! Zeus-a-mercy, yes, ten thousand times!
It may have been a very long time ago but people still understood that sometimes you just really fancy a particular food for no reason. The world has moved on in everything from politics to philosophy, science to art, but sometimes people still experience that sudden lust for soup and then an ancient play seems very relatable.
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Love Aristophanes! Great for a giggle even if some of the punchlines are lost in the mists of time as you say.
And doesn’t toast smell good when someone else’s making it?
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I sometimes think it’s odd that something written so long ago is still funny, but it genuinely is 🙂
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I’m also a fan of Aristophanes. I wondered the same thing about the title when I was reading Frogs. Maybe if we reread the play it will become more apparent.
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If you ever figure it out, please let me know!
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Haha this sounds fun! I don’t read many plays but this does sound like an interesting one. It’s so cool that you’re reading plays from so long ago, I rarely pick up ancient texts like those unless, of course, I have to for school.
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I figure, if a text is still known about and gets positive reviews a couple of thousand years after it was written, it’s got be quite good, hasn’t it?
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Yep, that’s very true!
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I’ve just come across your blog – mainly because you just seem to have come across mine. I’ve had a quick flick through some of your posts and I’ll enjoy having a longer browse later. I love the breadth of reading choices you have and your slightly irreverent yet thought-provoking take on them.
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Lovely to meet you and thanks for the follow. You have some fun posts and I look forward to more. I’m now following you as well! ❤️🙏
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I vaguely remember going to an Aristophanes play with school once. It’s pretty good when your plays are still being staged after over 2,000 years!
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Reblogged this on Vermont Folk Troth.
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How nice to find another reader who wonders about similar books.
I have no answer to your question about why he chose Frogs as the title but when I read it last year, I thought that it was at least better than some other works that have titles that don’t actually feature in the book/play etc. I mean, at least Frogs has frogs in it – and to me even more amusingly, it’s the original Frog Chorus. Wyndham’s The Kraken, James M. Cains The Postman Always Rings Twice are two books that I found utterly disappointing for their lack of titular characters. 😉
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Heh, good point. You know it’s been ages since I’ve read and Wyndham, think I’ll add The Kraken Wakes to my reading list.
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LoL. Just so long you are not expecting a Kraken. 😉
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