The Wasps

The Wasps
The Chorus in The Wasps has jurors who look like wasps in their behaviour (Painting: 'The Jury' by John Morgan 1861, Bucks County Museum, England).

[1] This list is based on David Barrett's translation.[2]
Written byAristophanes
ChorusWasps (old men)
Boys
Characters
  • Anticleon (Bdelycleon) a young Athenian
  • Procleon (Philocleon) his father
  • Sosias their household slave
  • Xanthias another household slave
  • First Dog
  • A reveller
  • A baking-woman
  • A citizen

Silent Roles

  • Midas household slave
  • Phryx household slave
  • Masyntias household slave
  • Second Dog (Labes)
  • Dardanis flute girl
  • Chaerephon the philosopher
  • Witnesses brought by the Citizen
  • Cooking utensils witnesses at trial of Second Dog
  • Puppies children to Second Dog
  • Revellers
  • Three sons of Carcinus
Settingbefore house of Anticleon

The Wasps (Classical Greek: Σφῆκες, romanized: Sphēkes) is the 4th of the 11 plays by Aristophanes. It was made at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC.

In the play, he uses satire against one of the generals in Athens, Cleon. He also ridicules law courts. Cleon also had power in these courts. The play is thought to use "Old Comedy".[3]

Translations

  • William James Hickie, 1853 – prose, full text
  • Benjamin B. Rogers, 1924 – verse, full text
  • Arthur S. Way, 1934 – verse
  • Douglass Parker, 1962 – verse
  • Alan H. Sommerstein, 1983 – prose and verse
  • Unknown translator – prose: full text
  • Peter Meineck, 1998 – prose
  • George Theodoridis, 2007 – prose: full text
  • The Atticist, 2018 – prose and verse with commentary: full text
  • Moses Hadas: available for digital loan

References

  1. ↑ Aristophanes: Lysistrata, The Acharnians, The Clouds Alan Sommerstein, Penguin Classics 1973, p. 37
  2. ↑ Aristophanes: The Frogs and Other Plays D.Barrett (ed.), Penguin Classics 1964
  3. ↑ Amnon Kabatchnik, Blood on the Stage, 480 B.C. to 1600 A.D.: Milestone Plays of Murder, Mystery, and Mayhem, p. 55.
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