A people of Asia Minor; when pursued by the Ionians they took refuge in the mountains. ↩
An Athenian barber. ↩
The owl was dedicated to Athene, and being respected at Athens, it had greatly multiplied. Hence the proverb, “taking owls to Athens,” similar to our English “taking coals to Newcastle.” ↩
An allusion to the Feast of Pots; it was kept at Athens on the third day of the Anthesteria, when all sorts of vegetables were stewed together and offered for the dead to Bacchus and Athene. This Feast was peculiar to Athens.—Hence Pisthetaerus thinks that the owl will recognize they are Athenians by seeing the stew-pots, and as he is an Athenian bird, he will not attack them. ↩
Nicias, the famous Athenian general.—The siege of Melos in 417 BC, or two years previous to the production of The Birds, had especially done him great credit. He was joint commander of the Sicilian expedition. ↩
Procne, the daughter of Pandion, King of Athens. ↩
A space beyond the walls of Athens which contained the gardens of the Academy and the graves of citizens who had died for their country. ↩
A town in Western Argolis, where the Athenians had been recently defeated. The somewhat similar word in Greek, ὄρνιθες, signifies “birds.” ↩
Epops is addressing the two slaves, no doubt Xanthias and Manes, who are mentioned later on. ↩
It was customary, when speaking in public and also at feasts, to wear a chaplet; hence the question Euelpides puts.—The guests wore chaplets of flowers, herbs, and leaves, which had the property of being refreshing. ↩
A deme of Attica. In Greek the word (κεφαλάι) also means “heads,” and hence the pun. ↩
One of Darius’ best generals. After his expedition against the Scythians, this prince gave him the command of the army which he left in Europe. Megabyzus took Perinthos (afterwards called Heraclea) and conquered Thrace. ↩
All Persians wore the tiara, but always on one side; the Great King alone wore it straight on his head. ↩
Noted as the birthplace of Thucydides, a deme of Attica of the tribe of Leontis. Demosthenes tells us it was thirty-five stadia from Athens. ↩
The appearance of the kite in Greece betokened the return of springtime; it was therefore worshipped as a symbol of that season. ↩
To look at the kite, who no doubt was flying high in the sky. ↩
As already shown, the Athenians were addicted to carrying small coins in their mouths.—This obolus was for the purpose of buying flour to fill the bag he was carrying. ↩
In Phoenicia and Egypt the cuckoo makes its appearance about harvest-time. ↩
This was an Egyptian proverb, meaning, “When the cuckoo sings we go harvesting.” Both the Phoenicians and the Egyptians practised circumcision. ↩
The staff, called a sceptre, generally terminated in a piece of carved work, representing a flower, a fruit, and most often a bird. ↩
A general accused of treachery. The bird watches Lysicrates, because, according to Pisthetaerus, he had a right to a share of the presents. ↩
It is thus that Phidias represents his Olympian Zeus. ↩
One of the diviners sent to Sybaris (in Magna Graecia, S. Italy) with the Athenian colonists, who rebuilt the town under the new name of Thurium. ↩
As if he were saying, “Oh, gods!” Like Lampon, he swears by the birds, instead of swearing by the gods.—The names of these birds are those of two of the Titans. ↩
Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, King of Thebes and mother of Heracles.—Semele, the daughter of Cadmus and Hermione and mother of Bacchus; both seduced by Zeus.—Alope, daughter of Cercyon, a robber, who reigned at Eleusis and was conquered by Perseus. Alope was honoured with Posidon’s caresses; by him she had a son named Hippothous, at first brought up by shepherds but who afterwards was restored to the throne of his grandfather by Theseus. ↩
Because water is the duck’s domain, as it is that of Posidon. ↩
Because the gull, like Heracles, is voracious. ↩
The Germans still call it Zaunkönig and the French roitelet, both names thus containing the idea of “king.” ↩
The scholiast draws our attention to the fact that Homer says this of Here and not of Iris (Iliad, V, 778); it is only another proof that the text of Homer has reached us in a corrupted form, or it may be that Aristophanes was liable, like other people, to occasional mistakes of quotation. ↩
In sacrifices. ↩
An Athenian proverb. ↩
A celebrated temple to Zeus in an oasis of Libya. ↩
Nicias was commander, along with Demosthenes, and later on Alcibiades, of the Athenian forces before Syracuse, in the ill-fated Sicilian Expedition, 415–413 BC. He was much blamed for dilatoriness and indecision. ↩
Servants of Pisthetaerus and Euelpides. ↩
It has already been mentioned that, according to the legend followed by Aristophanes, Procne had been changed into a nightingale and Philomela into a swallow. ↩
The actor, representing Procne, was dressed out as a courtesan, but wore a mask of a bird. ↩
Young unmarried girls wore golden ornaments; the apparel of married women was much simpler. ↩
The actor, representing Procne, was a flute-player. ↩
The parabasis. ↩
A sophist of the island of Ceos, a disciple of Protagoras, as celebrated for his knowledge as for
