Aristophanes Birds 267

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.) — 267 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.) — 267 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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οὗτος ὦ σέ τοι.
This phrase represents a highly compressed, colloquial form of address or greeting, likely functioning as an elliptical exclamation meaning 'This is he, by Zeus!' or 'Behold him, by Zeus!'. The particle τοι here serves as a strong emphatic marker, often associated with oaths or strong assertions, while the absence of a verb forces the reader to infer the predicative sense from context (typically 'οὗτος ὦ[ν] ἐστίν'). In the comic context of the Birds, such abrupt, formulaic interjections often signal a character's sudden recognition or the arrival of a specific figure, relying on the audience's familiarity with the metrical and rhetorical conventions of the genre to fill the syntactic gap.

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ἅτε γὰρ ὢν γενναῖος ὑπό τε συκοφαντῶν τίλλεται,
The participle ὢν is used here in a causal sense ('since he was noble') with the article ὢν (or rather the elided form ὢν from ὢν) functioning as a substantive relative clause or causal participle construction that emphasizes the inherent quality of the subject as the cause of his suffering. This construction, while not rare in Aristophanes, is notable here because it creates a tragic irony: the very nobility (γενναῖος) that should protect the individual is precisely what makes him a target for the sycophants (συκοφαντῶν). The verb τίλλεται ('he is plucked' or 'he is harassed') is a metaphorical extension of agricultural imagery, common in Old Comedy to describe the systematic destruction of a person's reputation or property by malicious informers.

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ὦ Πόσειδον ἕτερος αὖ τις βαπτὸς ὄρνις οὑτοσί.
The phrase ὁ βαπτὸς ὄρνις (the diving bird) is a deliberate pun on the name of the character Pterelas (or more generally, the Thracian bird-men), playing on the verb βαπτίζω (to dip, dive) to characterize the physical nature of the avian protagonists. This lexical choice is central to the play's central conceit of the bird-city, reinforcing the satirical transformation of human society into a state of avian absurdity.

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πῶς ἂν οὖν Κλεώνυμός γʼ ὢν οὐκ ἀπέβαλε τὸν λόφον;
The particle γέ (rendered here as γʼ) is used here for emphasis or slight contrast, highlighting the specific identity of Kleonymus in a way that anticipates the reader's knowledge of his reputation for cowardice. Without this particle, the rhetorical question would be a simple hypothetical; with it, it becomes a pointed allusion to his well-known flight from the battlefield, where he allegedly dropped his shield (though the text here refers to his 'crest' or 'plume', a metonymy for his military status and pride). This construction relies on the audience's familiarity with Kleonymus as a figure of ridicule in Athenian comedy, particularly regarding his cowardice, to function effectively as a rhetorical device.

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οὑτοσὶ δὲ πηνέλοψ, ἐκεινηὶ δέ γʼ ἀλκυών.
The sentence presents a chiastic arrangement of bird names, πηνέλοψ (pelican) and ἀλκυών (kingfisher), which functions as a deliberate rhetorical device. This pairing is not merely ornamental; it reflects the play's broader thematic preoccupation with the transformation of human identity into avian forms and the specific linguistic play on the Peloponnesus (Πελοπόννησος) through the pun on πηνέλοψ. The use of the demonstratives οὑτοσὶ and ἐκεινηὶ creates a spatial and syntactic contrast that underscores the absurdity of the characters' self-identification with these specific birds, a key element of Aristophanic comedy where the distinction between human and animal is fluid and satirical.

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νέρτος ἱέραξ φάττα κόκκυξ ἐρυθρόπους κεβλήπυρις
This line constitutes the opening of the parabasis, where the chorus of birds addresses the Athenians with a catalog of their own species. The syntax is a paratactic asyndetic list of nouns in the nominative case, functioning as a direct address or a vocative-like enumeration of the bird types present. The specific inclusion of the 'red-footed' (ἐρυθρόπους) quail (κεβλήπυρις) alongside the hawk, owl, and cuckoo serves to establish the diverse, chaotic, and distinctly Athenian character of the chorus, contrasting with the more uniform or majestic avian imagery often found in tragedy. The term κεβλήπυρις is a rare compound form, attested only here in Aristophanes and in some later lexicographical sources, referring specifically to the common quail (Coturnix coturnix), and its inclusion highlights the playwright's reliance on precise ornithological terminology to ground the absurd premise in a recognizable natural world.

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πορφυρὶς κερχνῂς κολυμβὶς ἀμπελὶς φήνη δρύοψ.
This line presents a series of five bird names in the nominative case, functioning as a catalog of birds that the chorus of birds claims to have seen or heard. The specific choice of 'πορφυρὶς' (porphyris) for a purple bird, 'κερχνῂς' (kerchnēs) likely referring to a kind of wren or similar small bird, 'κολυμβὶς' (kolumbis) for a diver or grebe, 'ἀμπελὶς' (ampelis) as the wryneck, 'φήνη' (phēnē) for the blackbird, and 'δρύοψ' (dryops) for the hoopoe, is significant for the play's theme of bird supremacy. The inclusion of 'δρύοψ' (hoopoe) is particularly crucial as it is the leader of the bird chorus and the character who advises Peisetairos to build Cloudcuckooland. The grammatical structure here is a simple asyndeton of nouns, which creates a rhythmic, incantatory effect appropriate for the bird-like nature of the chorus.