The birds (Aristophanes)

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The birds ( Greek : Ὄρνιθες Ornithes ) is a comedy by Aristophanes . In the play, first performed in 414 BC. BC , the ancient poet describes the seizure of power by the birds with the help of two Athenian exiles , Peisthetairos (from Greek Πεισθέταιρος = "adviser") and Euelpides (from Greek Εὐελπίδης = "good hope"). The play consists of five acts.

action

1st act

Presentation of Peisthetairos and Euelpides, who are moving away from Athens to found a new city where money is thrown away like dirt so as not to suffocate. As it turns out in the course of the play, Peisthetairos moved from Athens of his own accord, while Euelpides only went with him to escape his creditors . You come to the palace of the king of birds. Euelpides tries to call him, is spoken to by his slave, a fantastic bird, who, however, considers them to be a bird controller and threatens them with death. Euelpides claims that they are birds that completely lack their plumage as a result of moulting . Peisthetairos asks for an audience and indicates that through his advice the birds could regain control. Enter King Hoopoe , and it turns out that he was also once an Athenian who was mistreated by humans and therefore turned to birds. Unfortunately, the power of birds is not very great. Peisthetairos advises increasing power by building a city in the sky, which is the kingdom of birds. Once the city was built, the birds could seize power, since every transfer between humans and the gods could be controlled by the eagles by day and by the owls by night . If the gods resisted, they could be brought to insight through hunger (by means of blockade). In order to be protected from the gods, however, the city must be finished before they notice anything.

King Hoopoe likes the idea, but the bird parliament has to approve first. The nightingale is charged with summoning parliament.

2nd act

The representatives of the bird species arrive and are introduced by King Hoopoe. The king presents the plan of the man to Peithetairos. The choir leader reproaches the king for listening to people, although he has impressed on all birds that there is eternal enmity between birds and people. In addition, Peisthetairos has not even put away his skewer, which is used to grill birds. Again Peisthetairos and Euelpides are threatened with death. The plans are called snares to get all birds on the spit. The king can convince the birds to hear the plan anyway, and the birds eventually accept it. Peisthetairos flatters the birds by telling them that the birds were once kings and that the gods only later wrested power from them. If the birds built a city with retaining walls on the horizon and arching over the earth, they could regain dominion by intimidating the people on the one hand and the gods by intercepting the victims (they were burned, the smoke served the Gods as a meal) starved to death.

The birds agree.

3rd act

Peisthetairos and Euelpides turn into birds. They think about what to call the city. The considerations “New Sparta” (after the city-state of Sparta ) and “Beautiful View” are discarded, and agreement is reached on “ Cloud Cuckoo Home ” ( ancient Greek : Νεφελοκοκκυγία , Nephelokokkygia ). Enter Xanthias, whom Peithetairos knows from Aristophanes' play The Frogs . Other people also appear when the city is founded: First a priest for the offerings and, of course, to secure himself financially. Then a poet to sing about the city - Peisthetairos initially wants to beat him out, but is convinced by Xanthias that it would be better to give the poet a gift so that he can write hymns of praise for the city. Then a fortune teller who threatens to foretell a bleak future if he is not paid (on the orders of the Peisthetairos he is beaten up by Xanthias). Finally a city planner (Meton), who offers his services and is also beaten up by Xanthias, and an Attic mayor who wants bribes because he would otherwise publish unfavorable documents from Peisthetairos. After Peisthetairos apparently gives in, the governor is also beaten up by Peisthetairos and Xanthias.

4th act

The city is finished. All the bird species involved in the construction of the city are listed, as well as their deeds. A guard rushes over and reports that a god has gone into the city. As it turns out, it is Iris that was sent to earth by the gods and threatens the birds. Peisthetairos prophesies that the gods will soon crawl to them on all fours out of hunger. Then a herald proclaims the submission of Greater Athens. The initially reluctant Athenians were convinced that flocks of birds darkened the sun and threatened to suffocate the city in bird droppings.

5th act

Prometheus , recently freed from the rock by Heracles , appears and is greeted warmly by Peisthetairos. Prometheus tells him about hunger on Mount Olympus and prophesies to Peisthetairos that Zeus will send a negotiating delegation, because not only the gods of Mount Olympus were starving.

Indeed: Since the new city extends over the entire globe, the barbarian gods are also starving, they are already complaining to Zeus. Prometheus introduces Triball, the spokesman for the barbarian gods. In addition to Poseidon and Heracles, he takes part in the delegation of the gods. Prometheus urges Peisthetairos not to sign a contract with the gods until he has Basileia as his wife from Zeus. Peithetairos is initially not impressed, but is convinced by Prometheus, who prophesies that he will also receive a scepter through Basileia, that is, he will become king. In order to have an advantage in the negotiations, twelve chickens are executed as so-called rebels on a spit. The fragrance convinces Triball and Heracles of the necessity of submission to the gods and of the marriage of Basilea with Peisthetairos; the warning Poseidon is outvoted.

Peisthetairos is invited to Mount Olympus and on his return is greeted like a ruler by the bird choirs. The end is the wedding celebration with Basileia, at which the gods appear and the birds march past in military formation.

background

The work is considered a criticism of the politics of the time in Athens, especially under Perikles , which had changed from a primus inter pares in the League to an empire and asserted its power against allies through threats. This will to power led to the Peloponnesian War . Furthermore, individual professional groups are emphasized and criticized more intensely. Due to its scenic unity, Die Vögel is often referred to as the poet's most successful piece.

Aftermath

Modern adaptations of the piece were given by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Karl Kraus and Peter Hacks . The 1919 completed opera The Birds of Walter Braunfels has Aristophanes' comedy as a model. Even Alfred Hitchcock in 1963 turned feature film The Birds - and the underlying short story by Daphne du Maurier - portrays a seizure of the birds.

expenditure

  • Aristophanes: The birds . Comedy. Ed .: Niklas Holzberg (=  Reclams Universal Library . No. 19130 ). Reclam, Stuttgart 2013, ISBN 978-3-15-019130-9 (Greek: Aves . Translated by Niklas Holzberg).
  • Aristophanes: The birds . Comedy, German text version set up for the modern stage and commented by Ulrich Sinn . Ergon, Würzburg 2011, ISBN 978-3-89913-843-6 (original title: Aves .).
  • Aristophanes: The birds . Introduced and commented by Peter Rau, text in German and Greek (=  Aristophanes: Komödien, 4 volumes . Volume 2 ). WBG, Darmstadt 2016, ISBN 978-3-534-26849-8 , p. 213–336 (Greek: Aristophanes: Comoediae . Translated by Peter Rau, whole series: ISBN 978-3-534-26829-0 - four volumes).
  • Stefan Haenni: D Vögu ... or Sky City (Swiss German), very loosely based on "The Birds" by Aristophanes (= The Youth Series , Volume 196), Theaterverlag Elgg , Belp 2012, DNB 1032752033 .
  • Tim Krohn , Lika Nüssli (illustrations): The Cloud Cuckoo Country, based loosely on the play "The Birds" by Aristophanes . Swiss Youth Writings Foundation SJW, Zurich 2010, ISBN 978-3-7269-0570-5 ; French : Coucouville-les-nuées , ISBN 978-3-7269-0571-2 (simultaneous French version).

literature

  • Martin Holtermann: Aristophanes. C. The birds. In: Christine Walde (Ed.): The reception of ancient literature. Kulturhistorisches Werklexikon (= Der Neue Pauly . Supplements. Volume 7). Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3-476-02034-5 , Sp. 101-107.
  • Stephan Schmal: Enemy images among the early Greeks: Investigations into the development of images of foreigners and identities in Greek literature from Homer to Aristophanes (= European university publications , series 3: History and its auxiliary sciences , volume 677) Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1995, ISBN 3-631-49328-2 , pp. 142f, (dissertation FU Berlin 1994, 283 pages).

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