Aristophanes Birds 801

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.) — 801 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.) — 801 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 805

εἰς εὐτέλειαν χηνὶ συγγεγραμμένῳ.
The phrase χηνὶ συγγεγραμμένῳ (to a goose that has been enrolled) relies on a specific pun on the Athenian enrollment process (syngraphē). In the context of the play, the birds are establishing a new city in the sky (Cynsca) to intercept sacrifices. The use of συγγεγραμμένῳ implies the goose has been formally registered in the citizen or military roll, a satirical conflation of the bureaucratic requirements of the Athenian state with the absurdity of a goose being a citizen. This pun targets the rigid formalism of Athenian administration and the specific legal term for enrollment, which is central to the birds' scheme of creating a theocratic bureaucracy.

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Line 822

ἵνα καὶ τὰ Θεογένους τὰ πολλὰ χρήματα
The genitive construction τὰ Θεογένους τὰ πολλὰ χρήματα (literally 'the many monies of Theogenes') employs a possessive genitive of a personal name followed by a definite article and a numeral-adjective phrase. While the genitive of possession is standard, the specific phrasing here—where the name Θεογένους is used in the genitive without a preceding possessive pronoun or preposition, and is modified by the demonstrative/quantifying article τὰ...τὰ—suggests a colloquial or emphatic usage characteristic of Aristophanic comedy. The repetition of the article (τὰ Θεογένους τὰ πολλὰ) creates a rhythmic, almost pleonastic emphasis on the magnitude of the wealth, which serves a comedic function in highlighting the absurdity of the character's financial situation or the speaker's desire to appropriate such wealth. This construction is not merely grammatical but stylistically marked, reflecting the hyperbolic tone of the play.

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Line 831

ἕστηκʼ ἔχουσα, Κλεισθένης δὲ κερκίδα;
The phrase 'ἕστηκʼ ἔχουσα' (standing holding) is a deliberate visual gag relying on the audience's knowledge of the specific stage action: the character is miming the act of weaving while standing still. The participle ἔχουσα, while grammatically straightforward, here functions as a periphrasis for the act of 'holding the shuttle' (κερκίδα), a detail essential to the joke that Kleisthenes is being mocked as a woman (or specifically as a weaver) due to his effeminate appearance or political affiliations. This is not merely a descriptive clause but a critical component of the character's physical comedy in the play.

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Line 833

ὄρνις ἀφʼ ἡμῶν τοῦ γένους τοῦ Περσικοῦ,
The phrase τοῦ γένους τοῦ Περσικοῦ relies on a specific historical pun: the bird 'ὄρνις' (ornis) is being presented as the eponymous ancestor of the Persian dynasty, which Aristophanes etymologizes or conflates with the bird name for satirical effect. This is a deliberate, absurd prosopographical claim where the 'Persian race' is humorously traced to a bird, subverting the standard genealogical tropes found in tragic or historical prologues. The joke hinges on the audience recognizing the 'Persian' reference as a marker of the enemy (likely Alluding to the Achaemenid line or the Persian Wars context) and the absurdity of a bird being the progenitor of such a human lineage.