Aristophanes Birds 1151

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Birds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

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

Provisional text from uncorrected OCR; expect errors.

Editions (1)
Ὄρνιθες Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 1. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.) — 1148 focus
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.) — 1148 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.) — 1148 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

1151. mvp-tlg0019-tlg006-sanjaya-com-eng1-76

Line 1151

τὸν πηλὸν ἐν τοῖς στόμασιν† αἱ χελιδόνες.
The text contains a critical crux at the end of the line. The transmitted reading, 'αἱ χελιδόνες' ('the swallows'), makes little sense in the context of the preceding clause 'τὸν πηλὸν ἐν τοῖς στόμασιν' ('the mud in the mouths'), as swallows are not typically described as carrying mud in their mouths in this specific syntactic construction within the play's context of bird-city building. The dagger (†) indicates a suspected corruption. Most editors, following the logic of the play's plot where birds are constructing a city (Nephelokokkygia) and the specific imagery of construction, conjecture that the text should read 'ἐν τοῖς στόμασιν' followed by a verb or a different subject, or that the subject is missing entirely. A common conjecture involves emending the text to reflect the birds' activity of carrying clay/mud for building, possibly suggesting a reading like 'φέρουσι' (they carry) or re-evaluating the subject to fit the construction theme, as the current reading appears to be a scribal error or a corrupted gloss that has entered the main text.