Frogs: metaphor and allegory

Eleven of Aristophanes’ comedies survive intact. The Companion to Aristophanes features one chapter focused on each play and pairs it with an issue or theme in Aristophanes’ plays that is exemplified by that comedy. This chapter examines Aristophanes’ Frogs , in which Dionsyus, god of the theater, descends into the underworld in search of the tragic poet Euripides, only to return with his rival Aeschylus after a contest of poetics between the two tragedians. The chapter pairs a reading of the play itself with a survey of the importance of metaphor and allegory across Aristophanes’ comedies.