Clouds. Wasps. Peace (Harvard University Press)

Aristophanes of Athens (ca. 446-386 BC), one of the world's great comic dramatists, has been admired since antiquity for his wit and fantasy, language, and satire of the social, intellectual and political life of Athens at its height. He wrote at least 40 plays, of which 11 have survived complete. In this volume, Jeffrey Henderson presents an edited Greek text of two plays an English translation and full explanatory notes for the late 1990s. Socrates "Thinkery" is at the centre of "Clouds", which spoofs untraditional techniques for educating young men. "Wasps" satarizes Athenian enthusiasm for jury service and the law courts as well as the city's susceptibility to demagogues. "Peace" resumes the theme of the "Acharnians".