In \u2018The Frogs\u2019, a comedy which was taught in Linaia in 405 BC, Dionysus, disappointed by the poor quality of the dramas that are produced in Athensas the great tragedians are dead, descends into the underworld in order to bring back a great poet who is able to save Athens from the decadence. For this purpose, he organises a poetry competition between Aeschylus and Euripides, appointing Pluto as the judge so as to destroy him. And Aristophanes, who relentlessly satirises the modern ethics and therefore Euripides-their representative at the time, deems that Aeschylus is better. Aeschylus will be the winner.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0The Director\u2019s note:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In The Frogs, Aristophanes unfolds a phantasmagoric nekyiain the orchestra, as if he were Odysseus who is searching for the way to his utopian Ithaca. One has to learn what death is in order to live out their life. The polis (city-state) has to realise which its deficiencies are, so as to be present as a polis. It has to sink in the foreign world of Hades to obtain its identity.<\/p>\n God Dionysus will descend into Hades, disguised as Hercules, in order to bring Euripides back to the earth, since not even one great poet is left in Athens anymore. Even though this trip is taken in the imposing gloom of the world of souls, it possesses the cheerfulness of an entertaining tour which verges on the medieval carnival.<\/p>\n Dionysus does not descend into Hades to bring back a good old politician or a good old philosopher or general, but in order to bring back a tragic poet. It is obvious that Aristophanes considers poetry and theatre to be the only remedy against the decadence of the country. By our own standards, this is really strange.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n