Birds

Birds, drama by Aristophanes, produced in 414 bce. Some critics regard Birds as a pure fantasy, but others see it as a political satire on the imperialistic dreams that had led the Athenians to undertake their ill-fated expedition of 415 bce to conquer Syracuse in Sicily. The character Peisthetaerus (whose name means “Trusty”) is so disgusted with his city’s bureaucracy that he persuades the birds to join him in building a new city to be...