The ideal single-volume introduction to the greatest masterpieces of ancient comedy
From the fifth to the second century B.C., theatrical comedy flourished in Greece and Rome. This new anthology brings together four essential masterworks of the genre: Aristophanes' bold, imaginative The Birds; Menander's The Girl from Samos, which explores popular contemporary themes of mistaken identity and sexual misbehavior; and two later Roman comic plays: Plautus's The Brothers Menaechmus, the inspiration for Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors; and Terence's bawdy...

This new verse translation of Aristophanes' comedies offers one of the world's great comic dramatists in a form which is both historically faithful and theatrically vigorous. Aristophanes' plays were produced for the festival theatre of classical Athens in the fifth century BC and remarkably encompass the whole gamut of humor, from brilliantly inventive fantasy to obscene vulgarity. There is a substantial general introduction to the author and introductory essays for each of the plays, as well as full explanatory notes and an index of names.

This new abridged edition of Aristophanes' Frogs provides the students with the text of the play and includes a detailed commentary and full introduction. Sir Kenneth Dover has now abridged the acclaimed edition which he first produced in 1993 and added a vocabulary which eliminates the need for recourse to a lexicon. The result is an edition which fits much more closely the needs of students.

Another in the Focus Classical Library modern translations of works from the Classical world. This series of translations is noted for the clarity of translation and fidelity to the intent of the original work, with notes and an introduction that provide the student with access to the intent of the author in the original. As such these works are outstanding for their ability to provide the reader with the sense of the original as it was understood in its time and an excellent starting point for any interpretation or adaptation. The Acharnians is one of Aristophanes' anti-war comedies.