Aristophanes Birds 1021

ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart

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Birds. Aristophanes. ed. F. W. Hall, ed. William M. Geldart. Oxford. 1906.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.

Current edition Perseus

Ὄρνιθες (Greek) (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.)

Translations (3)
Birds Perseus (Aristophanes. The Complete Greek Drama, Vol. 2. Anonymous, translator. O'Neill, Eugene; Oates, Whitney Jennings, editors. New York: Random House, 1938 (printing).)

No corresponding passage available

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.) — 1021 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.) — 1021 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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Line 1021b

τίς ὁ Σαρδανάπαλλος οὑτοσί;
The character Peisthetaerus uses this question to mock the effeminacy and decadence of the Persian king Sardanapallus (a figure known from later Hellenistic and Roman tradition, notably Diodorus Siculus, rather than contemporary 5th-century sources). Aristophanes employs this anachronistic allusion to characterize the current political leader (likely Cleon or a similar demagogue) as a figure of moral corruption and softness, contrasting sharply with the traditional Greek ideal of martial virtue. The specific epithet 'Sardanapallus' functions as a cultural shorthand for extreme luxury and passivity, a rhetorical device that relies on the audience's recognition of the legendary Persian king as a symbol of Eastern decadence.

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Line 1023b

ἐπίσκοπος;
The term ἐπίσκοπος here functions as a technical title within the context of the play's political satire, referring to a 'superintendent' or 'overseer' (specifically a member of the Council of 500 or a specific magistracy tasked with oversight). Aristophanes exploits the ambiguity of the word, which could also imply a 'spy' or 'watchman,' to satirize the paranoia and surveillance culture of the Athenian democracy. The singular form is significant as it suggests a specific, perhaps absurdly appointed, individual rather than a general body, highlighting the play's critique of bureaucratic overreach.

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Line 1031

μαρτύρομαι τυπτόμενος ὢν ἐπίσκοπος.
The participle ἐπίσκοπος ('overseer' or 'guardian') is here used in the active sense of 'watching over' or 'guarding' rather than the later passive sense of 'being overseen' or 'supervised', a usage that aligns with the comic context of the speaker claiming to be a vigilant guard while simultaneously being beaten. This active sense is rare in this specific syntactic construction and highlights the irony of the scene where the physical state of being struck (τυπτόμενος) contrasts with the functional role of the guardian.

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Line 1041

σταθμοῖσι καὶ ψηφίσμασι καθάπερ Ὀλοφύξιοι.
The reference to the Olophyxians (Ὀλοφύξιοι) is a specific, likely satirical allusion to a small, obscure deme or tribe, possibly located in Attica or the broader Greek world, whose citizens were notorious for issuing excessive or trivial decrees (ψηφίσματα) or for their reliance on specific logistical stations (σταθμοί). Aristophanes frequently targets local demes or specific political groups for ridicule; here, the comparison implies that the birds' administration is as cluttered with bureaucratic formalities as that of this particular group. The obscurity of the Olophyxians suggests a contemporary joke known to the original audience but lost to later generations, requiring identification of the group to fully grasp the satire of Athenian bureaucratic excess.

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καλοῦμαι Πισθέταιρον ὕβρεως ἐς τὸν Μουνιχιῶνα μῆνα.
The phrase ἐς τὸν Μουνιχιῶνα μῆνα functions as a temporal adverbial of the 'time within which' (tempus quo), a construction rare in Attic comedy where the preposition ἐς ('into') typically denotes direction or extent of action rather than a specific month. Here, it likely implies the duration of the accusation or the specific timeframe of the 'hubris' charged against Pisthetaerus, possibly alluding to the festival period associated with the Piraeus demesmen (Mounichioi) during which such legal or social transgressions were most palpable or prosecuted. The specific reference to 'the month of Mounichion' (roughly May-June) anchors the accusation to a precise civic calendar point, contrasting with the more generic 'hubris' charge.