{"product_id":"clouds-wasps-peace","title":"Clouds. Wasps. Peace","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe master of Old Comedy.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAristophanes  of Athens, one of the world’s greatest comic dramatists, has been  admired since antiquity for his iridescent wit and beguiling fantasy,  exuberant language, and brilliant satire of the social, intellectual,  and political life of Athens at its height. The Loeb Classical Library  edition of his plays is in four volumes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Introduction to the edition is in Volume I. Also in the first volume is \u003ci\u003eAcharnians\u003c\/i\u003e, in which a small landowner, tired of the Peloponnesian War, magically arranges a personal peace treaty; and \u003ci\u003eKnights\u003c\/i\u003e, perhaps the most biting satire of a political figure (Cleon) ever written.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThree plays are in Volume II. Socrates’ “Thinkery” is at the center of \u003ci\u003eClouds\u003c\/i\u003e, which spoofs untraditional techniques for educating young men. \u003ci\u003eWasps \u003c\/i\u003esatirizes Athenian enthusiasm for jury service. In \u003ci\u003ePeace\u003c\/i\u003e, a rollicking attack on war-makers, the hero travels to heaven on a dung beetle to discuss the issues with Zeus.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe enterprising protagonists of \u003ci\u003eBirds \u003c\/i\u003ecreate a utopian counter-Athens ruled by birds. Also in Volume III is \u003ci\u003eLysistrata\u003c\/i\u003e,  in which our first comic heroine organizes a conjugal strike of young  wives until their husbands end the war between Athens and Sparta. Women  again take center stage in \u003ci\u003eWomen at the Thesmophoria\u003c\/i\u003e, this time to punish Euripides for portraying them as wicked.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFrogs\u003c\/i\u003e,  in Volume IV, features a contest between the traditional Aeschylus and  the modern Euripides, yielding both sparkling comedy and insight on  ancient literary taste. In \u003ci\u003eAssemblywomen \u003c\/i\u003eAthenian women plot to save Athens from male misgovernance—with raucously comical results. Here too is \u003ci\u003eWealth\u003c\/i\u003e,  whose gentle humor and straightforward morality made it the most  popular of Aristophanes’ plays from classical times to the Renaissance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Harvard University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54217081389400,"sku":"9780674995376","price":31.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9780674995376.jpg?v=1780379109","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/clouds-wasps-peace","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}