History-Makers: Aristophanes 

While we're here, one subject I cut for time is the relationship between "The Clouds" and the trial of Socrates. It's commonly assumed that Aristophanes' satire played a part in Athens' decision to charge and ultimately kill Socrates, but that interpretation doesn't really hold up to scrutiny. The Clouds was performed over *20 Years* before Socrates' trial. If the play had that strong an effect on Athens, we can assume Socrates would have been charged far sooner. And Plato's own writings paint Aristophanes rather favorably - if Plato blamed Aristophanes for the' trial, he does not make that obvious. There IS one snide line in Socrates "Apology" that seems to a modern reader like it's referring to "The Clouds", but really we can't be sure. Aristophanes was not the only Comic playwright in Athens, and certainly not the only person who disliked Socrates. Did The Clouds contribute to a negative public perception of Socrates? Sure, in part, at least when it was performed in 423.. But it's faaar more likely that Socrates' trial and death in 399 owe more to his persistent habit of being a Colossal Pain In The Ass to whomever he was speaking with. Reading The Apology makes it clear that nobody had the power to make Athens hate Socrates more than Socrates. -B

Aristophanes is *THE* definition of Chaotic good in Ancient Greece

Antisthenes once stated: "It is better to fall in with crows than with flatterers; for in the one case you are devoured when dead, in the other case while alive"

"All men should be free to do as they wish" "But who would toil the soil?" "The slaves!"

The best thing is that they 're still played today in Greece, with improvised dick jokes about modern politicians ON TOP of the ancient ones. Aristophanes managed to be still relevant after 2000 years

Comedies as the most acceptable way to criticize a government…guess times don’t change all that much?

“Aristophanes invented communism” was definitely NOT the thing I was expecting from this video, but it is funny as hell!

My favorite part of Peace is not just the guy Flying the Dung Beetle into heaven, but that fact he spends two minutes chastising and begging the audience not to fart in case the beetle knocks him off and goes looking for food.

Aristophanes wrote possibly the best line in any play, when Dionysus is trying to follow Charons instructions on operating a rowboat: DIONYSUS: (doing everything wrong) "Like this?"

Aristophanes: We know exactly what is wrong with Athenian society and would ask the people in charge of Athenian society to do anything about it, it's just that what's wrong with Athenian society is the people in charge of Athenian society doing anything they want.

Reading the Clouds in school was such a cathartic way to end our classics unit. After weeks of getting tortured with Plato's prose at too young an age it was nice to see the philosophers get dunked on savagely.

I will always love Aristophanes for introducing me to the Greek word “Eruproktes,” meaning “gaping asshole,” and also having the same prefix that gave us Europe.

I have seen both "Clouds" and "Women of Thesmophoria" live at the ancient theater of Epidaurus. The actors said a lot of the dick jokes BUT the English subtitles they had on a projector did not! And I say, that's unfair.

It's The Frogs. The Frogs, beyond all doubt, when a harassed and terrified Dionysus rushes up to the priest of Dionysus in the first row, and screams, "You're my priest! DO something!"

"The Athenians knew they were a mess and celebrated it." I've never identified with an ancient city so well.

"he was taken to court by a politician for slander" So, what you're telling me is that we haven't changed in almost 2500 years

“From Shakespeare to South Park” is a lot more powerful than I think anyone would ever think think

"Find a translation that keeps the dick jokes and you'll be set." Human history in a nutshell, whether our conservative elders like it or not.

"Such honey it is to do forbidden things." - Aristophanes, Fragment

The phrase "and then Athens happened" needs to be a meme on the same level as "then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked" 😅

4:48 "An old man is addicted to serving on juries, so his family sets up a fake domestic court to keep him busy at home, where he judges the case of Dog v. Stolen Cheese." ...I might watch this Netflix original.

“Our boy homer”

Wait wait we skipped over the women having their own “parallel society.” There’s definitely more to analyze there

Spicy political pornography: that’s Aristophanes for ya

An Athenian man appears in our modern age. He walks into a bar and sees an episode of South Park playing on a television screen. He sits transfixed and watches it for 10 minutes before exclaiming "Good to see Aristophanes made it to the future as well."

During 'The Birds', the titular birds threaten to defecate on the judges of the festival unless they are awarded first prize... it didn't work.

Hold on, you're telling me a guy thousands of years ago wrote a comedy where a guy sneaks into the ladies' room in drag to spy on them, gets caught learning about their secret society, and takes a toy baby hostage that's secretly filled with booze? Damn it, back to the drawing board then.

I remember laughing to tears when I read Wasps. When the father hides under the donkey (maybe it was a sheep, it's been 10 years) and the son is like "dad, no..." I read it with my mom while I was studying literature in college, and we both literally kept GUFFAWING at it. It was beautiful. Centuries after his death, this man made us laugh to tears

A couple of years ago, my high school theatre put on the Birds. Apparently, the audience laughed so hard that they needed to get an EMT to save people from choking to death on laughter. Literally.

To quote Cleveland Brown "what country is this" "that's the gay flag." "ah Greece."

What I learned: The greatest enduring ideal of democracy is politicians getting butthurt over a comedian making fun of them

Aristophanes: I know exactly everything that's wrong with athens. Athenians: Do you know how to solve those things? Aristophanes: Well, I have a couple ideas. Athenians: Then why don't you help us solve them? Aristphanes: Are you kidding? If athens stops being such a hot mess I'll lose my job!

“And then… Athens happened.” *Oh no*

I read Lysistrata for a class a couple years back. It was definitely more enjoyable to read than any of the tragedies I've read, since it feels like it's written to be enjoyed, while still being very informative about Athenian culture.

Aristophanes was just like "This whole city is a meme and I'm going to show you exactly why. AND YOU WILL LOVE IT!"

I’m Greek, and I’m dying because the steed said malaka 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Fun fact: comedy was associated with the Greeks so much that technically speaking most Roman comedies are set in Greece even if the characters act and refer to Roman stuff all the time, also Romans completely lacked that kind of self-awareness which probably contributed: the so-called "togata" (the Roman comedy sub-genre actually set in Rome) is greatly toned down compared to the comedies set in "Greece".

You know the Ace Attorney fandom is rising if Blue uses Phoenix in his video.

As someone that has to study the godsforsaken thing this semester, Birds is ABSOLUTELY batshit insane and really does not let up on the slapstick or the dick jokes - at one point, they make sex jokes while wearing saucepans on their heads. My professors have said ‘dick’, ‘cock’, and ‘fuck’ FAR too many times this semester for me to take the unit seriously

Hey isn’t this the guy you become friends with in assassins creed? Huh, I am now even more proud of myself for that play against Kleon. Look mom! I’m making history!!

"Ah, yes, ancient Greek theater was truly a haven of cultural performance and intellectual achievement" declare the pundits, not noticing Sappho waltzing behind them, bare-chested with a strap-on and flanked by two Vegas showgirls.

In theatre school in the early 2000s we did a modern retelling of Lysistrata. It really does hold up.

I'm gonna be real, during your description of "Peace", I thought you said that the farmer "rescued the goddess of peace by dicking her out of her grave" and my immediate reaction was THAT IS SUCH A GREEK THING.

I once went to see lisistreia live, and I have to say I wasn't expecting 2500 year old jokes to land , but they did and made me laugh a lot more than most modern comedies

I've read Birds way back when, don't exactly remember the whole thing on account of all the flowery language, but it really shocked me to see how this man makes a complete pig's breakfast of the religion of the time, putting all the avians above the gods. Like imagine someone doing that to the Abrahamic religions and staying a celebrated author.

More History-Makers to feed my history loving soul I'm going to miss having history classes in school :(

Dog v stolen cheese was a groundbreaking case

Man, we really need Legal Eagle to review Aristophanes' trial play. Is there a recorded stage version on teh interwebs anywhere?

I did a project on Aristophanes in middle school because we had to pick a historical figure and my teacher said i couldnt do Genghis Kahn because of the time period restriction.

Being a Greek high school student, Aristophanes is a HUGE taboo at school. Even though studying "Eleni" of Euripides is a mandatory subject, simply discussing the works of Aristophanes makes teachers turn red. Thankfully our teacher was brave enough to ditch Eleni midway and having us study Frogs pArTly instead. And let me say, the part we studied was enough to make him go back to Eleni.

I study classics at Exeter Uni and in my first year the classics society performed Lysistrata, only slightly altered, and by Dionysus it was glorious.

I absolutely love Frogs! Heracles and his lust for soup is hilarious.

I had a small role (Ismene of Boetia) in a college production of Lysistrata. Good gracious, that was FUN. Your passing remark about men on stage wearing garish cloth penises (or to that effect) reminded me that our production got chewed on by a critic for not going with nudity. Our director told costuming to make... well, yes. Garish cloth penises. Our chitons were loose and comfy, too. I think someone was upset that he didn't get to see some of us without them. As I was 18, I'm very glad he didn't get an eyeful. A lot of us were wearing those things regimental style anyway.

1:30 in and Blue has already been iconic several times. Our boy is on fire!

I gotta say. That part with the wine baby thing, actually sounds hilarious 😂.

So basically "Saturday Night Live" with Aristophanes.

philosophy and science:advancing Athens:Alright LETS BOOST THE ADVANCEMENT 1000%

"Epic, Lyric, Athens" Dear god no

Makes you wonder how a meeting between Arisophanes and Diogenes would go...

The Birds is one of the most wild and hilarious classic play you will ever see, 10/10 would do erotic bird roleplay again.

So..is this what they mean by "it's funny because it's true"?

YAYYYYYY I've been waiting for you to cover Aristophanes! It's phenomenal that so much of his humor still works today. And watching Red's video on Dionysus it's astonishing to realize the same year as Euripides Bacchae, with the fierce and mysterious god, had Aristophanes' Frogs with Dionysus as a slapstick lead character.

I have only made it through "The Frogs," but I loved it. Honestly, it might be nice to see Aristophanes make a bit of a comeback- a lot of people were complaining about how much Shakespeare is presented today, but he is around partially because he is in the public domain (IE free to perform).

"got us some Sappho, love that" yes, yes we do (:

The Sondheim musical/broadway adaptation of Aristophanes' The Frogs has always been a favorite of mine, except the playwrights are *Shaw* & *Shakespeare!*

The only reason i know the "frogs of Aristophanes" is from the lyrics in modern major general. I have no idea what it actually entails 🤷

Always wonderful to be reminded that raunchy satire and lampooning meme lords have been with us since the start.

“Athens HAPPENED”- Greece in a nutshell, honestly.

Ah, Greek comedy ... I have fond memories of a college class I took on classical theatre where we actually spent a month in Greece. We performed excerpts from the Oresteia in the theatre at Delphi, heard my professor declaim the Iliad from the sweet spot when we visited the asclepeion at Epidaurus, visited the real spots where half a dozen of the tragic plays were set. And we also smuggled sheets and pillows and socks out of our fancy hotel to turn them into fat suits and giant fake dongs to rehearse Women at the Thesmophoria. Good times.

Really want to see more Aristophanes. The biggest problem is that very few theatre companies ever realise how great it could be. Closest has been Ben Jonson, The Alchemist.

Oh fuck Revali is just a character from Birds who got lost in Hyrule huh

Birds is a veryyyy weird play... but amazing

Aristophanes: ruthlessly roasts Athens Athens: He’s so funny, I can’t even be mad about it!

I have the 1925 edition of Lysistrata, illustrated by Norman Lindsay and translated by his brother, Jack Lindsay. It's great read and the illustrations... Well... It is Norman Lindsay. I do like the choice by Jack to make all the Spartans speak with a Scottish accent, it goes so well with how they are portrayed.

"He grabs a baby as a hostage" was just said, and then moved on from like its the most normal thing in the world lol

1:57, Satyr Plays. Love that visual joke ! The laughter jumped from my throat !

Best part is, his plays are so relevant to modern democratic societies, that it makes it easy to find and read or even watch one of his plays. (There are also some variants)

Assembly Women sounds like it could have been written today. The satire still holds up after 2000 years.

oh osp, as i sip my tea i see you render in 2d your greek maps ever so beautifully and as it still pains me to see a vid on Aristophanes but no journey!!

Wait a minute... if the chorus explains the story to the audience and directly interacts with are the characters, does this mean that the Disney version of Hercules had an accurate story structure to an Athenian comedy? Were the gospel singers literally the chorus of that story? And it is a parody of an American city... Holy shit, is that movie just one big historical shit post?

Last time I was this early Socrates was still a Hoplite

In John Green's Crash Course World History #5 "The Persians and The Greeks." His Open Letter to Aristophanes sums that man up in such an elegant and humorous way.

Me clicking this vid: oh sweet, Eratosthenes Blue: um, no sweatie

Well my reading pile just got significantly deeper. Thanks, Blue, I was barely a mile from the bottom.

after watching this video i read the acharnians. the thing that struck me the most was how certain parts sounded like a monty python skit. nicarchus: you can't buy birds from that guy! his city is allied with sparta! dicaeopolis(the main character): you denounce birds? n: yes! and i denounce you too! you have brought wicks to athens that cane from an enemy city! d: what's wrong with the wicks? n: an enemy could use one to burn down our arsenal. d: how? n: well if you tied it to an insect wing and had a good north wind you could use a tube to throw it into the arsenal and if it landed on something flammable then the whole thing would go up! and all i can imagine is the part of the holy grail where arthur tells the black knight "you're a loony"

"Worth his olive oil" was way funnier than it should have been to me

People making fun of the ruler, elites, divinity, society and rules is the greatest sign of a healthy democracy.

I’ve seen Wasps and Clouds, and I can say - the jokes aged magnificently.

I read a collection of Aristophanes's plays a few years ago. Most of what I remember is how bizarre it felt whenever he veered off plot to make some sort of snarky comment about people he didn't like (particularly Cleon). It's been over 2000 years, and we still know about the petty beef between these people.

it's crazy to think his comedy made more people laugh today with your video, than he ever did in his entire life

We learned about this guy in my history class this year!

it is incredible how relatable the Athenians are when written by Aristophanes. Truly the human condition never changes even as the physical and cultural conditions do.

If they existed at the time, Aristophanes would’ve made at least 10 ligma jokes over his career

There's something about a greek-themed book cover with the nuclear disarmament sign on it that makes me smile

I want you to know, that I find myself quoting your "let's do some history." every time I have to do any historical research these days.

Such a great and informative video as always!! I love listening to you guys and I feel so smert afterwards! Now I just need people to ask the right questions. But! I was wondering if red would be willing to do the story of Deirdre in a video?? It’s such an amazing story from Celtic mythology I feel itd make a nice short and sweet video!

Last time I was this early Socrates hadn’t yet drunk his poison

"the author's reputation isnt based... on taste" -Sondheim, "The Frogs" song #2 thoroughly recommend. freely adapted from Aristophanes and very well played with Nathan Lane as Dionysus.

Might be a great for history, bad for my English grade

my earliest yet