Aristophanes Birds 1337

Anonymous (Translator), ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., ed. Whitney J. Oates, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.

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Birds. Aristophanes. Anonymous (Translator), ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr., ed. Whitney J. Oates, ed. Eugene O'Neill, Jr.. New York. 1938.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Birds (English) (Aristophanes. The Complete Greek Drama, Vol. 2. Anonymous, translator. O'Neill, Eugene; Oates, Whitney Jennings, editors. New York: Random House, 1938 (printing).)

Editions (1)
Ὄρνιθες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 1337 focus
Translations (2)
Birds (OCR draft) Experimental (Anonymous translation, 1938 compilation; legacy Perseus source migration. Preserved separately from the revised canonical perseus-eng2 at the project owner's request.) — 1337 focus
English (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) Experimental (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) — 1337 focus

Commentary

Commentary (Sanjaya, generated; selected passages) (OCR draft) (Source: pnadelofficial/aristophanes-sanjaya, commit c319590c139e5603e71f0699caa0663d823af8ad. Machine-generated source annotations retained; see Sanjaya import audit for coverage and limitations.) focus

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παλαιὸς ἐν ταῖς τῶν πελαργῶν κύρβεσιν·
The noun κύρβες (singular κύρβος) refers specifically to the deep, bowl-shaped nests of the stork, distinct from the flatter platforms or ledges (φρεάτια or simply καταβάθραι) often used by other birds or humans. Aristophanes' choice of this specific term here, paired with the genitive τῶν πελαργῶν, evokes the imagery of a deep, enclosed space, reinforcing the comic absurdity of the 'Birds' (specifically the character Peisetairos or the chorus) imagining themselves ruling from such a precarious, avian dwelling rather than a fortified human acropolis. The adjective παλαιὸς ('old') functions as a substantive, implying 'an old resident' or 'an old-timer,' a usage that aligns with the play's theme of establishing an ancient, pre-human order of birds, yet the specific collocation with 'stork-nests' is a rare poetic image in Old Comedy that relies on the reader's recognition of stork nesting habits to grasp the visual comedy.

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ἐπὴν ὁ πατὴρ ὁ πελαργὸς ἐκπετησίμους
The participle ἐκπετησίμους is a hapax legomenon in Aristophanes, formed from the verb ἐκπετάσσω (to spread out, fly out). Here it functions as a predicative adjective modifying the subject ὁ πατὴρ ὁ πελαργὸς, describing the stork father as being 'ready to fly away' or 'about to take flight.' The construction is syntactically elliptical, lacking an explicit finite verb for the main clause, relying on the context of the dialogue to supply the action of departure or the state of readiness. This rare morphological formation and its specific usage to denote imminent flight in a comedic context regarding storks (central to the play's plot of building a city in the sky) warrant attention.