Aristophanes Thesmophoriazusae 1126b

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Thesmophoriazusae. 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)
Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι Perseus (Aristophanes. Aristophanis Comoediae, Vol. 2. Hall, F. W. and Geldart, William M., editors. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907.) — 1136 focus
Translations (2)
Thesmophoriazusae (OCR draft) Experimental (English (Anonymous; 1938 compilation). Migrated from Perseus legacy XML; source wording and notes retained. See TEI header and migration inventory.) — 1136 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.) — 1136 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

1126b. mvp-tlg0019-tlg008-sanjaya-com-eng1-40

Line 1126b

τὸ κεπαλή σʼ ἄρα
The phrase τὸ κεπαλή σʼ ἄρα presents a syntactic anomaly characteristic of Aristophanic comedy: the article τὸ is used with a noun in the dative (κεπαλή) to form an adverbial accusative of respect or a quasi-idiomatic expression of surprise or emphasis ('so, the head, then?'), while κεπαλή itself is a colloquial, slightly degraded form of κεφαλή, reflecting the play's focus on the demotic speech of the women of the chorus. The particle ἄρα introduces a conclusion drawn from previous context, here likely mocking the absurdity of the situation or the speaker's own bewilderment.