The Frogs Paperback – January 1, 2005

My interest in Aristophanes' play - The Frogs - has started while I was reading Greek and Roman Ghost Stories by Lacy Collison-Mirley. The Frogs is an enjoyable play, where the characters are witty, Euripides and Aeschylus mock each other's works, find mistakes and their poetic craft is scalled by God Dionysus, who has to decide whom he must revive, in order to save Athens from its decline. (A poet's opinion was important in hard times) Dionysus' plan was to bring back Euripides, who died a year before, but Aeschylus comes with a better advice for saving Athens. The rhetorical confruntations between Aeshylus and Euripides seem more like an allegorical fight between an idealist (Aeschylus) and a rationalist (Euripides). The irony and sarcasm are pretty obvious, but some jokes are difficult to understand without some helpful notes.

I feel totally cheated. I went on Amazon to purchase The Focus library edition of the Frogs, translated by Jeffrey Henderson. The page offered this up as a hardcover edition on page titled "Frogs (Focus Classical Library)" and on the jump page when I clicked on the hardcover option (http://www.amazon.com/Frogs-Kessinger-Legacy-Reprints/dp/1169239781/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1445900318&sr=8-1) the first review was a commentary on the Henderson translation. Completely deceptive. NOT the Henderson translation. No editorial apparatus, preface, notes, nothing. Not even line numbers, which are necessary to a good quality translation. And the translation is not Henderson's, although, because of the complete lack of attribution or editorial apparatus, I have no idea whose it is. And it cost me $27.16 versus $10.95 for the paperback of a quality edition. From now on, I will be much more careful, because now I have to buy it again, and this was due to very deceptive page structuring.

While "The Frogs" is full of satire, self-mockery, and lots of Greek humor, you wouldn't know it from this translation. I honestly think it's worth the $2-3 to purchase a modern translation (either online or check your local used bookstore), so that you can enjoy the play rather than wading through syrupy, old-fashioned language that saps the life out of the play.

nice

This is not one of Aristophanes' more accessible plays. Still, with a little research and leadership, our book club declared it enjoyable.

Not a good translation. Devoid of footnotes or introduction.

Did anyone edit this translation? It's pretty bad, which is a shame for a good play. Fortunately, it was free, but it was not as pleasant a read as it should have been.

For the price this was a fantastic version of Aristophane's classic "The Frogs." I enjoyed reading it and love the cheap price, perfect for a student like me!

A great classic and a must read.

A good book. Received in a very good condition.