The Birds (Ornithes) is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes in 414 BC, and performed that year for the Festival of Dionysus. Greek comedy is the name given to a wide genre of theatrical plays written, and performed, in Ancient Greece. ... The Greek language (Greek Ελληνικά, IPA // – Hellenic) is an Indo-European language with a documented history of some 3,000 years. ... A bust of Aristophanes Aristophanes (c. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC - 410s BC - 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC Years: 419 BC 418 BC 417 BC 416 BC 415 BC - 414 BC - 413 BC 412 BC... The Dionysia was a large religious festival in ancient Athens in honour of the god Dionysus, the central event of which was the performance of tragedies and comedies. ...

Background

Unlike most of Aristophanes' plays, The Birds doesn't attack any specific person or event. However, it is likely inspired by the failed Athenian invasion of the Greek colonies in Sicily in 415 BC. The Sicilian colonies supported Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, and the failure of the invasion led to Alcibiades being sentenced to death for sacrilege, and his defection to Sparta; however, these events are not specifically parodied in the play. The Acropolis in central Athens, one of the most important landmarks in world history. ... Colonies in antiquity were city-states founded from a mother-city, not from a territory-at-large. ... Sicily (Sicilia in Italian) is an autonomous region of Italy and the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, with an area of 25,700 sq. ... Centuries: 6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC Decades: 460s BC 450s BC 440s BC 430s BC 420s BC - 410s BC - 400s BC 390s BC 380s BC 370s BC 360s BC Years: 420 BC 419 BC 418 BC 417 BC 416 BC - 415 BC - 414 BC 413 BC... Sparta (Grk. ... Map of the Greek world at the start of the Peloponnesian War Temple of Apollo at Corinth The Peloponnesian War began in 431 BC between the Athenian Empire and the Peloponnesian League which included Sparta and Corinth. ... Alcibiades Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (ancient Greek: ΑΛΚΙΒΙΑΔΗΣ ΚΛΕΙΝΙΟΥ ΣΚΑΜΒΩΝΙΔΗΣ)¹ (c. ...

Plot

Pisthetairos and Euelpides, frustrated with life in wartime Athens, search for Tereus, a king who had been changed into a hoopoe, in the realm of the Birds in the sky. The play begins as they reach the sky; how they get there is not important. After meeting a descendant of Tereus, they convince the birds to help them create Nephelokokkygia (or Nephelococcygia, "Cloudcuckooland", or sometimes "Cuckoonebulopolis"). Pisthetairos and Euelpides are given feathers and wings by the birds, and Pisthetairos quickly takes over the new city as a dictator, after which Euelpides leaves in disgust. In Greek mythology, Tereus was a son of Ares and husband of Procne. ... Binomial name Upupa epops Linnaeus, 1758 The Hoopoe Upupa epops is in the same order of often colourful near passerine birds as the kingfishers, bee-eaters, and rollers. ...

Pisthetairos has the Birds build an enormous wall (600 feet high), and expels every annoying visitor who arrives in the city. Among the various visitors are a poet, singing ancient praises of the newly created city, a lawyer selling all the latest legal documents, and the goddess Iris who flies through the city not knowing that the walls are supposed to stop her. Prometheus also arrives to inform Pisthetairos that the city has become the focus of humanity's worship and sacrifices, which are no longer being received by the gods. A delegation from the gods, led by Poseidon and Heracles, comes to negotiate for the sacrifices, and they eventually allow Pisthetairos to marry Zeus' maid Basileia, who is the true force behind Zeus' control of Heaven. The play ends as Pisthetairos realizes he is the new ruler of the gods. In Greek mythology, Iris was the daughter of Thaumas and the ocean nymph Electra and one of the Oceanids (according to Hesiod), the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. ... This article is about the mythological figure. ... Andrea Doria as Neptune by Agnolo Bronzino: a potent allegory of Genoas hegemony in the Tyrrhenian Sea In Greek Mythology, Poseidon (Ποσειδῶν) was the god of the sea, known to the Romans as Neptune, and to the Etruscans as Nethuns. ... For the son of Alexander the Great, see Heracles (Macedon). ...

Pisthetairos is at first an ordinary man with whom the audience can sympathize in his quest for a utopia. However, Cloudcuckooland quickly collapses from egalitarian state to dicatorship as Pisthetairos acquires a fancy for tyranny and hubris. Although Aristophanes was not attacking anyone or anything in particular, his point remains that humans are corrupt and greedy, regardless of where they live. Utopia, in its most common and general meaning, refers to a hypothetical perfect society. ... A tyrant (from Greek τυραννος tyrannos) is a usurper of rightful power, possessing absolute power and ruling by tyranny. ... Hubris is exaggerated pride or self-confidence often resulting in retribution. ...

The parabasis of the play, in which the chorus of Birds talks directly to the audience, takes place after the exit of the lawyer. It involves a discussion of the importance of birds to the universe and the alleged travesties performed on them by humans, including keeping them in cages as pets and cooking them as food. The chorus then promises not to defecate on the audience if they give the play first prize. In tragic plays of Ancient Greece, the chorus was originally made of 12 singing and dancing members. ...