Offering a window into the world of ordinary Athenians, Aristophanes'The Birds and Other Playsis a timeless set of comedies, combining witty satire and raucous slapstick to wonderful effect. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Greek by David Barrett and Alan H. Sommerstein.

The plays in this volume all contain Aristophanes' trademark bawdy comedy and dazzling verbal agility. InThe Birds, two cunning Athenians persuade the birds to build the utopian city of 'Much Cuckoo in the Clouds' in the sky, blockading the Olympian gods and installing themselves as new deities.The Knightsis a venomous satire on Cleon, a prominent Athenian demagogue, who vies with a humble sausage-seller for the approval of the people; whileThe Assembly-Womendeals with the battle of the sexes as the women of Athens infiltrate the all-male Assembly in disguise. The lengthy conflict with Sparta is the subject ofPeace, inspired by the hope of a settlement in 421 BC, andWealthreflects on the economic catastrophe that hit Athens after the war.

These lively translations by David Barrett and Alan H. Sommerstein capture the full humour of the plays. The introduction examines Aristophanes' life and times, and the comedy and poetry of his works. This volume also includes an introductory note for each play.

Aristophanes (c.445-386 BC) was probably born in Athens. Little is known about his life, but there is a portrait of him in Plato'sSymposium. He was twice threatened with prosecution in the 420s for his outspoken attacks on the prominent politician Cleon, but in 405 he was publicly honoured and crowned for promoting Athenian civic unity inThe Frogs. Aristophanes had his first comedy produced when he was about twenty-one, and wrote forty plays in all. The eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes are published in the Penguin Classics series asThe Birds and Other Plays,Lysistrata and Other Plays,The Wasps and Other PlaysandThe Frogs and Other Plays.

If you enjoyedThe Birds and Other Plays,you might like Aristophanes'The Frogs and Other Plays, also available in Penguin Classics.