The Frogs: A Handout
I. An Aristophanic Chronology
(Cribbed from K.J. Dover, Aristophanic Comedy [Berkeley: Univ. of California Press,
1972].) All dates are B.C.
450 Approximate date of Aristophanes' birth.
431 Outbreak of the Peleponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.
430 The great plague at Athens.
429 Death of Pericles.
427 Banqueters (lost).
426 Babylonians (lost), as a result of which A. was indicted by Kleon for ridiculing Athenians
in front of foreigners; the indictment was apparently unsuccessful.
425 Acharnians. at Lenaia; 1st prize.
424 Knights, at Lenaia, 1st prize.
423 Clouds--original version (lost), at City Dionysia (late March); placed 3rd (of three).
422 Wasps, at Lenaia; 2nd prize.
421 Peace, at City Dionysia; 2nd prize. Peace treaty between Athens and Sparta brings war to
a (temporary) end.
417 Approximate date for revision of Clouds; not performed but surviving.
416 Athenian attack on Melos.
415 Athens sends expedition to Sicily.
414 Amphiaraos (lost), at Lenaia; Birds at City Dionysia; 2nd prize.
413 Sparta resumes hostilities; destruction of the Sicilian expedition.
411 Lysistrata, at Lenaia (probably); Thesmophoriazusae, at City Dionysia
(probably). Temporary success of an oligarchic revolution in Athens.
408 Wealth (lost--not play of 388, below).
406 Deaths of Sophocles and Euripides.
405 Frogs, at Lenaia, 1st prize. Athens decisively defeated; naval blockade.
404 Sparta imposes peace; an oligarchic group (the "thirty tyrants") is put in power.
403 Civil war; restoration of democracy.
399 Indictment and execution of Socrates, who claims one of the factors against him was
Aristophanes' Clouds.
395 Renewal of war with Sparta (but with different allies); rebuilding of Athenian navy
begins.
392 Ecclesiazusae--date is approximate.
388 Plutus (or Wealth).
After 388 Aiolosikon (lost) and Kakalos (lost), produced by Aristophanes' son.
II. The Structure of Old Comedy
Old Comedy (of which the plays of Aristophanes are the only surviving examples) had a fairly
regular and characteristic structure.
Prologue: Discussion among actors before the appearance of the Chorus; definition of the
problem.
Parodos: Entrance of the Chorus (elaborately costumed).
Agon: The protagonist, usually with the help of a sidekick, defends himself (or herself) against an antagonist, or seeks to persuade the Chorus to support the play's central idea.
Parabasis: Elaborate choral odes (and dance), partly addressed to the audience; actors
are not present.
Episodes: Various satiric characters encounter the hero, now supported by the chorus; episodes are occasionally separated by short choral odes.
Second Parabasis: Occasionally the Chorus launches on a second series of choral odes;
in the second parabasis (if not in the first) the Chorus may make a direct appeal that the
play be awarded first prize.
Episodes: Further satiric characters encounter the comic hero.
Eksodos, or Finale: The actors and the Chorus dance off in comic celebration.
The Frogs violates this dramatic structure in several significant ways. As with other plays, the
main parabasis separates the two halves. But the agon (debate or contest) takes place in the
second half rather than the first. (In The Frogs the agon is the contest between Aeschylus and
Euripides.) The Episodes take place in the first half. Also, before the entrance of the regular
Chorus, there is a surprising appearance of a chorus of frogs, which gives the play its name.
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