5. The Tragic Contest

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we think about the argument between Aeschylus and Euripides that makes up the second half of the play, focusing in particular on: (i) the level of familiarity with tragedy expected of the audience; (ii) the recurrence of the kind of arguments found in the parabasis; (iii) the difference between Aeschylean and Euripidean tragedy – according to Aeschylus and Euripides, at least; (iv) the twist at the end of the contest; (v) the relation between Aristophanes’ Frogs and Eupolis’ Demes; and (vi) the idea that it is not Aeschylus or Euripides who are best placed to save the city of Athens – but Aristophanes himself.

Course

In this course, Dr Naomi Scott (University of Nottingham) explores Aristophanes’ Frogs. In the first module, we think about the social, political and historical context of Aristophanes’ Frogs. In the second module, we think about the role of myth and ritual in the play, before turning in the third module to consider the ways in which Frogs plays with its own status as a work of theatre. In the fourth module, we think about the Frogs as a play that was performed rather than a text to be read, before turning in the fifth and final module to the tragic contest between Aeschylus and Euripides that dominates the second half of the play.

Lecturer

Dr Naomi Scott is Teaching Associate in Classics at the University of Nottingham. Her research focuses on on Old Comedy, and she works both on the plays of Aristophanes and also on the fragments of other comedians such as Cratinus, Pherecrates, and Archippus.