The Penn Greek Drama Series presents original literary translations of
the entire corpus of classical Greek drama: tragedies, comedies, and
satyr plays. It is the only contemporary series of all the surviving
work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Menander.
Aristophanes wrote most of his comedic masterpieces during the
Peloponnesian War, parodying the tumultuous politics and society of that
time with trademark innuendoes and bawdy stagings and dialogue. In these
plays, Aristophanes brings every rhetorical strategem into play to treat
the reader to stories of one man's attempt to create a war-free zone,
the rescue of the imprisoned Peace on the back of a giant dung beetle, a
satire of Euripides's sympathies for women, and the hustling and healing
of a blind and destitute Wealth in order to redistribute the world's
riches.
Translations are by Jack Flavin (Acharnians), Fred Beake (Peace),
David Slavitt (Celebrating Ladies), and Palmer Bovie (Wealth). The
volume includes an introduction by Ralph Rosen, Professor of Classics at
the University of Pennsylvania.