Aristophanes Birds 550

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Birds. Aristophanes. . 2026-09-08.

Current edition Experimental

English (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.) — 550 focus
Translations (2)
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.) — 550 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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ἱερὸν πόλεμον πρωὐδᾶν αὐτῷ, καὶ τοῖσι θεοῖσιν ἀπειπεῖν
The form πρωὐδᾶν is a rare crux of textual transmission. While most manuscripts and editions read πρωτοδᾶν (a hapax legomenon in this context, perhaps a compound of πρῶτος and δαίνυμι 'to distribute' or 'to offer'), some scholars (notably Meineke and later West) have conjectured a corruption of πρὸς τὸν δᾶνα (with a lost article) or, more plausibly in light of the comic context, a dialectal or metrical variant of πρὸς ὀδᾶν (towards the feast/sacrifice). The form as transmitted is syntactically difficult as an infinitive object of ἀπειπεῖν without a clear governing preposition, suggesting the text may be corrupt or that the author is employing a highly colloquial, dialectal formation (Atticizing Doric) to mock the solemnity of the 'sacred war' formula.

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καὶ τὰς Ἀλόπας καὶ τὰς Σεμέλας· ἤνπερ δʼ ἐπίωσʼ, ἐπιβάλλειν
The phrase ἤνπερ δʼ ἐπίωσʼ presents a crux of textual transmission and dialectal usage. The form ἐπίωσʼ is a contracted aorist indicative of ἐπιθέω (to rush at, attack), but the particle ἤνπερ (a contraction of εἰν + περ, 'if indeed') is highly irregular here. Most editors, following the scholia and the metrical constraints of the iambic trimeter, suspect a corruption: either the reading should be ἤν ποτʼ (if ever) to fit the meter and standard usage, or the verb is not ἐπιθέω but a form of ἐπιτίθημι (to attack/assault) with a different contraction. The ambiguity is compounded by the fact that ἤνπερ is otherwise unattested in Attic tragedy and comedy in this specific syntactic slot, leading some modern scholars to conjecture ἤν ποτʼ or to emend the verb entirely. This passage is a known locus for textual criticism in the Aristophanic tradition, reflecting the fluidity of the manuscript tradition regarding particle-verb combinations in comic dialogue.

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ἢν δὲ Ποσειδῶνί τις οἶν θύῃ, νήττῃ πυροὺς καθαγίζειν·
The verb νήττῃ (imperative aorist active, 2nd person singular) is a hapax legomenon in this context, derived from the root *nē- (to boil or cook), likely meaning 'boil' or 'cook' the spelt (πυρούς). The usage is technically rare and reflects Aristophanic coinage or dialectal variation to fit the comedic context of the bird-people's ritual, where the birds are instructed to 'boil' the spelt for the purification of Poseidon. The form is not standard Attic; the expected form would likely be νίπτῃ (if from νίπτω, 'to wash') or a different verb entirely, but the context of 'cooking' spelt for a sacrifice makes the rare form significant for understanding the absurdity of the ritual instructions.

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ἢν δʼ Ἡρακλέει θύῃ τι, λάρῳ ναστοὺς θύειν μελιτοῦντας·
The phrase 'λαρώι ναστοὺς' presents a significant textual crux. The manuscript tradition is divided: some codices read 'λαρώι' (to the lar), while others, including the most authoritative for the play's scholia, suggest 'λαρὶ' or a corruption thereof. More critically, 'ναστοὺς' (nas-toos) is almost certainly a corruption of 'νεστοὺς' (nestous, 'honeycombs'), a reading supported by the context of 'μελιτοῦντας' (honeyed). The phrase likely refers to the offering of honeycomb to the household lar, a specific ritual detail that aligns with the play's satirical inversion of traditional piety, where the birds prescribe absurdly specific, often ridiculous, sacrificial procedures. The variant 'ναστοὺς' appears in some texts but is likely a scribal error for 'νεστοὺς' due to the visual similarity of alpha and epsilon in uncial script, or perhaps a confusion with the word 'νασός' (temple), which would make little sense here. This is a genuine crux requiring emendation to restore the logical sense of the ritual prescription.

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ᾧ προτέρῳ δεῖ τοῦ Διὸς αὐτοῦ σέρφον ἐνόρχην σφαγιάζειν.
The phrase σέρφον ἐνόρχην presents a striking, though likely intentional, redundancy or pleonasm. While σέρφον (slave) and ἐνόρχην (castrated slave, specifically a eunuch) are semantically overlapping in the context of domestic servitude, the combination emphasizes the absolute humiliation and loss of autonomy required of the deity's servant. This construction is rare in Aristophanes, who typically relies on sharper, more specific insults; here, the doubling serves a hyperbolic rhetorical function to heighten the absurdity of the proposed sacrificial ritual, where the god himself must be served by a creature stripped of both status and virility.

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ἥσθην σέρφῳ σφαγιαζομένῳ. βροντάτω νῦν ὁ μέγας Ζάν.
The phrase ὁ μέγας Ζάν is a hapax legomenon in extant literature, referring to the Phrygian deity Sabazios (often equated with Zeus in syncretic cults). The vocative construction and the epithet 'great' here likely allude to the specific mystery cults popular in Athens during the late 5th century, contrasting the 'great' god with the 'servant' (σέρφῳ) mentioned earlier, potentially satirizing the protagonist's claim to divine status or the hierarchical absurdity of the bird-kingdom's theology.

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Ἥρην δέ γʼ Ὅμηρος ἔφασκʼ ἰκέλην εἶναι τρήρωνι πελείῃ.
The verb ἔφασκ' (ἔφασκε) is the imperfect of φημί, which here introduces an indirect statement without an infinitive, a construction common in Aristophanes for attributing reported speech or opinion. The phrase ἰκέλην εἶναι τρήρωνι πελείῃ is a direct allusion to a lost passage of Homer (likely the Cypria or a similar epic fragment) where Hera is compared to a swift dove, a motif Aristophanes repurposes for comic effect by juxtaposing the goddess's dignity with the bird-like simile in the context of the bird-city.

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κἄπειτʼ αὐτοῖς ἡ Δημήτηρ πυροὺς πεινῶσι μετρείτω.
The verb μετρείτω is an aorist imperative active, 3rd person singular, which creates a syntactic tension with the dative plural αὐτοῖς ('to them/them') and the nominative plural subject ἡ Δημήτηρ ('Demeter'). The construction implies that Demeter is to 'measure out' grain specifically for the birds (or 'to the extent that they are hungry'), but the dative αὐτοῖς could be read as a dative of disadvantage or, more likely in this comic context, a dative of reference or interest that is somewhat loose. However, the most striking feature is the juxtaposition of the present participle πεινῶσι ('being hungry' or 'as they are hungry') with the aorist imperative. The participle πεινῶσι is present active, 3rd person plural, agreeing with the implied subject of the relative clause or the birds themselves, creating a conditional or circumstantial clause: 'and then let Demeter measure out barley to them, (while) they are hungry' or 'as they are hungry.' This structure highlights the immediacy of the birds' need versus the ritualistic action of the goddess. Furthermore, the use of πυροὺς (barley) rather than the more generic σίτου (grain) is significant for the agricultural specificity of the birds' diet, as barley was a staple for both humans and birds in the Attic context, but its precise mention here underscores the comic inversion of the natural order where birds now control the grain supply.

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πρῶτα μὲν αὐτῶν τὰς οἰνάνθας οἱ πάρνοπες οὐ κατέδονται,
The noun πάρνοπες ('woodpeckers') appears here as a rare example of a bird named after its habitat or a specific behavioral trait (parno- 'wood' + -opis 'eye/face' or perhaps related to 'wood'), which is not a standard morphological derivation in Attic comedy. Aristophanes often coins or repurposes terms for comic effect, and this term's etymology and usage as a specific bird name in this context warrant note as a lexical curiosity rather than a standard vocabulary item.