Birds and Other Plays Book

Well, that was enlightening. If you're someone who is concerned that Ancient Greece was all Oedipal complexes and gouged out eyeballs and such you'll be very relieved to read the plays of Aristophanes. Aristophanes isn't afraid of a dirty joke or scatological references or employing enormous fake phalluses as stage props. I know more about the personal grooming habits of the Ancient Greek women than I probably *needed* to know. I almost typed WANTED to know but then I realized that if someone had dangled that information just out of my reach I probably would have reached out a hand and made at least a half-hearted snatch (sorry) for it. So, on some level I WANTED to know. But I didn't NEED to.

I understand that the work of Aristophanes represents and important element of Greek life and I'm glad I read this but I don't need to read any of his other plays. I get it.

As regards this particular translation, I would recommend it even though the translator's notes are a bit dense and he does love to use a long, complicated word where a concise one would do the job. I liked that this collection was designed to show the progression from Old Comedy to Middle Comedy. I could have done without the many references to plays and characters outside of this collection but ultimately I didn't feel like I was missing the point by just skimming over those.