Comedias I. Los acarnienses. Los caballeros.: Los arcanienses. Los caballeros. (Biblioteca Clásica Gredos nº 204)

by Aristophanes, Luis Gil Fernández (Translator), Emilio Suárez de la Torre (Translator)

Aristófanes, el más célebre comediógrafo griego, trata en sus piezas las cuestiones intelectuales y políticas de mayor carga polémica en su tiempo.
El ateniense Aristófanes (444-385 a.C.) es el más célebre de los comediógrafos griegos, y fue ampliamente imitado en el periodo romano y después. Vivió la gloria y la decadencia de Atenas, en la época de Pericles y la guerra del Peloponeso. Es el principal exponente de la Comedia Antigua.
Sus comedias de Aristófanes ponen de manifiesto el intenso debate que animó la Atenas de su tiempo, y que se manifestó en todos los ámbitos: la política, la filosofía, la literatura... Aristófanes se revela como un tradicionalista en pensamiento y religión (defiende la validez de los mitos antiguos), lo que le llevó a oponerse al movimiento ilustrado de su tiempo, y en especial a Sócrates y Eurípides. Sus críticas a la democracia pueden deberse o bien a su animadversión contra este sistema o bien a una elevada consideración del mismo, defraudada ante su gradual decadencia. También se pronuncia en materia educativa, y hace sentir sus opiniones acerca de la educación de los jóvenes. En conjunto, sus comedias son un fiel y útil reflejo de la sociedad ateniense de su tiempo, y se ocupan de cuestiones como la organización financiera, el ejército y el sistema judicial.
Se conservan once de sus comedias, de la cuarentena que se le atribuía en época alejandrina, de las que en este primer volumen figuran las iniciales Los acarnienseses (alegato en favor de la paz escrito en el sexto año de la guerra del Peloponeso, pronunciado por un campesino que ha tenido que refugiarse en Atenas y que muestra su malestar en la vida urbana y pesar por la destrucción de sus campos) y Los caballeros (ataque frontal contra el demagogo Cleón y, de paso, una divertida sátira de la democracia en la que aparecen muchos personajes públicos).

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Literature, Comedy, Greece, Drama, Classics

353 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 5, 2016

About the author

Aristophanes (Greek: Αριστοφάνης; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.
Also known as "The Father of Comedy" and "the Prince of Ancient Comedy", Aristophanes has been said to recreate the life of ancient Athens more convincingly than any other author. His powers of ridicule were feared and acknowledged by influential contemporaries; Plato singled out Aristophanes' play The Clouds as slander that contributed to the trial and subsequent condemning to death of Socrates, although other satirical playwrights had also caricatured the philosopher.
Aristophanes' second play, The Babylonians (now lost), was denounced by Cleon as a slander against the Athenian polis. It is possible that the case was argued in court, but details of the trial are not recorded and Aristophanes caricatured Cleon mercilessly in his subsequent plays, especially The Knights, the first of many plays that he directed himself. "In my opinion," he says through that play's Chorus, "the author-director of comedies has the hardest job of all."

Reviews

[Rodrigo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lectura amena siempre y cuando no vayas todo el rato a las notas, las cuales, muchas veces aportan poco o nada de explicación al texto. Seguiré con el segundo volumen.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Las comedias más antiguas que conocemos. Su lectura es necesaria para conocer el desarrollo del género.

[Hessam Ghaeminejad · Rating 4 out of 5]

بهترین و سر راست ترین اثر آریستوفانیس از دید من!
این اثر بر خلاف آثار دیگر آریستوفان به مقوله ی صلح نمی پردازد و بیشتر در مذمت عوام فریبی و دسیسه چینی هست؛ و اینکه روزی یک فرد دسیسه چین تر و حیلت کار تر زمام امور را از دستان دسیسه چینان گذشته خارج می سازد
در مورد آثار آریستوفان بجز تم اصلی همه آنها که صلح و راستی و درست گویی است ، این نکته که شناخت افراد آن دوران در فهم نمایش نامه کمک میکند لازم به ذکر است؛ برای مثال کلئون که تقریبا نامش در تمام آثارِ آریستفانیس هست فردی عوام فریب در سنا و خانه ی دموس( مجلس نمایندگان) می باشد که آریستوفانیس بیشترین دشمنی را با او دارد بنابراین توضیحات مترجم در راستای فهم کتاب از الزامات است

[Rez · Rating 4 out of 5]

«دزدی، سوگند دروغ و مهیای پذیرایی کردنِ ماتحت، سه شرط لازم برای صعود از نردبانِ قدرت‌اند.»

آخارنی‌ها ۳
سلحشوران ۴

[Julia]

This volume contains the Greek text and Jeffery Henderson's translation of Aristophanes' two earliest plays, the Acharnians and Knights. Added are also a general introduction, introductions to the individual plays, bibliographies, extensive notes, and an index, which make this edition a perfect starting point to begin the study of Aristophanes work and life.

These are the two earliest plays we have of the author, but they are also the first surviving comedies. It seems natural to relate them to the works of the latest tragedian Euripides. While we find 'happy endings' and some humor in them already, the differences some more prevalent to me than the similarities: The hero is neither divine nor noble, the themes are more obviously political and actual, there is more allegory in the characters and their names, the audience is directly addressed, and the playwright voice is present. Most obvious might be the change in language which becomes simpler in metric and decisively more vulgar, as characters creatively joke about genitalia, sex, shitting and farting. One of the discoveries I made in reading these first two comedies was, however, that despite the simplicity of language, Aristophanes seems much deeper and more complex than I thought before and compared to Euripides, who I just systematically read.

The first play, Acharnians, is about the simple man Dicaeopolis, who, frustrated by his elected representatives in the Assembly of Athens, takes matters in his own hands. As he sees the officials making no progress in negotiating peace in the Peloponnesian war, he decides to make peace as a private person. Returning from the Assembly to his house, he celebrates his peace but soon gets interrupted by a group of Acharnians, old war veterans, who regard him as a traitor for making peace with the enemy and want to stone him to death. Dicaeopolis believes he can change their mind by making a speech, arguing that he is right. After a bit of hesitation, the Acharnians agree to listen to him and Dicaeopolis prepares to give his speech. To do so, he visits Euripides, who, in my favorite part of the play, gets wheeled out of his house on a couch. He helps Dicaeopolis by giving him the costume of a beggar to strengthen his case in front of the Acharnians. Thus prepared, Dicaeopolis makes his case, and this case is also Aristophanes case. He states:

Do not be aggrieved with me, gentleman spectators, if, though a beggar, I am ready to address the Athenians about the city while making comedy. For even comedy knows about what's right; and what I say will be shocking but right.

Dicaeopolis (and Aristophanes) challenge their respective audience to see the enemies side and eventually wins them over. Dicaeopolis then sets up his own marketplace, where he trades freely and profitably with Megarians and Thebans. The play ends by contrasting Dicaeopolis happy state of peace and the miserable prospect of his neighbor Lamachus, who is forced to join a battle in war.
It takes a moment to get clear on the situation and characters that the play depicts, but once you understand what is going on, the play is a lot of fun. It is especially nice if you are familiar with, for instance, Euripides plays, and can therefore pick up on the comedy that lies in the depiction of the historical characters. But even if this context is missing, the plot is still fast and engaging and the play interesting to think about the fourth wall and interaction between audience, writer, and performers in theatre.

The second play of the edition continues the political theme. Aristophanes 'The Knights' is a play about the squalor and ultimate remediation of a character tellingly named Demos. We learn from one of Demo's slaves at the beginning that it is another slave of Demos, named Paphlagon, who is responsible for the demise of his master's house. This Paphlagon lies and flatters Demos and uses all sorts of tricks so that his master does not realize that he is enriching himself on his and the other slaves behalf. The other slaves of Demos decide to steal his oracles, while he is asleep from drinking too much. These are usually closely guarded by the sneaky Paphlagon because, as the good slaves learn, they predict that Paphlagon will be a leader in Athens until a sausage seller will overthrow him. In their desperation to get rid of Paphlagon, the two slaves get hold of a sausage teller and persuade him to help them getting rid of Paphlagon. He is unsure at first, but once the chorus of knights takes sides against Paphlagon as well, he is willing to face him in argument. Paphlagon is defeated but tries his luck at the council. The sausage seller, who runs after him, does, however get the Council on his side, too. Finally, they argue in front of Demos himself. The sausage seller can show him that Paphlagon does not have his best interest at heart and the Demos asks the sausage seller to become his new steward. After a short while under the sausage sellers service (we now learn his name is Agoracritus), Demo's restores his former self. The chorus sings, once it sees him for the first time again: "Hail, king of Greeks! We too share your joy, for your condition is worthy of the city and the trophy at Marathon." Agoracritus shows himself not only quite able to wake his master out of the deceit Paphlagon had inflicted by him but also as a sound judge. When Demos asks him how his predecessor should be judged, he simply states that he should take up his old job of selling sausages.
I preferred the Knights over the Acharnians, both for the structure and characters of the play as well as for its message. Even though the Acharnians were funnier and in some sense more exciting to me, with Euripides appearance, the plot of the Knights seemed more streamlined and the simplicity of the message more elegant.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

aristophanes is definitely growing on me...the more i read, the more i love!

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

448-380 bce lived in athens

The Acharnians 425 bce
The Knights 424 bce

Cambridge, MA & London: Loeb, 1998
Jeffrey Henderson, trans.

bawdy

[El Usuario · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pues sí, al final sí me reí con Aristófanes.
Me reí porque es gracioso que la fórmula de la risa siempre haya sido la misma: decir groserías y burlarse de aquél en el poder.

[Mustapha · Rating 4 out of 5]

دزدی، سوگند دروغ و مهیای پذیرایی کردنِ ماتحت، سه شرط لازم برای صعود از نردبانِ قدرتند‌.
سلحشوران

[امین میردامادیان]

« تو همۀ خصوصیات یک حاکم مردم فریب را داری. صدایی رسا و ترسناک داری. توی شکمت یک رودۀ راست پیدا نمی‌شود. زبان بازار را هم که خوب می‌فهمی. همۀ شرایط حکومت در تو جمع است. همۀ پیشگویی‌ها، حتا پیشگویی‌های دلفی به نفع تو هستند. بیا و حلقۀ گلی بردار و به درگاه خدای حماقت پیشکش کن. خودت را برای جنگی رو در رو آماده کن.»

ظاهراً چیزی از جایش تکان نخورده است.

[Sarah]

I can’t believe I had to spend $35 on this...