The Birds by Aristophanes

First produced:Ornithes, 414 b.c.e. (English translation, 1824)

Type of work: Drama

Type of plot: Social satire

Time of plot: 431-404 b.c.e.

Locale: Athens and Nephelo-Coccygia, the city of the birds

Principal characters

• Euelpides, an Athenian
• Pisthetaerus, his friend
• Epops, the hoopoe, formerly a man
• The Birds,

The Story

Euelpides and Pisthetaerus, two disgruntled citizens, want to escape from the pettiness of life in Athens. They buy a jay and a crow, which Philocrates, the bird seller, tells them can guide them to Epops, a bird not born of birds; from Epops they hope to learn of a land where they can live a peaceful life.

The jay and the crow guide the pair into the mountains and lead them to a shelter hidden among the rocks. They knock and shout for admittance. When Trochilus, Epops’s servant, comes to the door, Euelpides and Pisthetaerus are prostrate with fear; they insist that they are birds, not men, a species the birds intensely dislike. Epops, a hoopoe with a triple crest, emerges from the shelter; he does not present a very colorful aspect, since he is molting. Epops informs the Athenians that he was once a man named Tereus, whom the gods transformed into a hoopoe.

When the Athenians reveal the purpose of their visit, Epops suggests that they move on to the Red Sea, but they say they are not interested in living in a seaport. Epops suggests several other places, but on one ground or another the pair rejects them all. The truth is that they want to stay among the birds and establish a city. Interested in this novel idea, Epops summons the birds, that they, too, might hear of the plan.

The birds swarm to the shelter from all directions until every species of Old World bird is represented at the gathering. The leader of the birds, fearful of all men, is dismayed when he learns that Epops talked with Euelpides and Pisthetaerus, and he incites all the birds to attack, threatening to tear the Athenians to pieces. To defend themselves, Euelpides and Pisthetaerus take up stewpots and other kitchen utensils. Epops rebukes the birds for their precipitous behavior. Finally, heeding his suggestion that perhaps they can profit from the plan of the two men, they settle down to listen. Epops assures the birds that Euelpides and Pisthetaerus have only the most honorable of intentions.

Pisthetaerus tells the birds that they are older than human beings. In fact, the feathered tribes were once sovereign over all creation, and even within the memory of people birds were known to have been supreme over the human race. For that reason, Pisthetaerus declares, birds are used as symbols of power and authority. The eagle, for example, is Zeus’s symbol, the owl is Athena’s symbol, and the hawk is Apollo’s.

Seeing that the birds are interested in his words, Pisthetaerus propounds his plan: The birds are to build a wall around their realm, the air, so that communication between the gods and human beings will be cut off. Both gods and people will then have to recognize the supremacy of the birds. If human beings prove recalcitrant, the sparrows will devour their grain and crows will peck out the eyes of their livestock. If they accede, the birds will control insect plagues and help them store up earthly treasures.

The birds are delighted with his plan. Epops ushers the Athenians into his shelter, where the pair momentarily forget their project when they see Epops’s wife, Procne, who bears an uncanny resemblance to a desirable young maiden. Meanwhile the leader of the birds speaks of humankind’s great debt to the birds. Urging human beings to look upon the birds as the true gods, he invites them to join the birds and acquire wings.

Pisthetaerus, winged like a bird, organizes the building of the wall and arranges all negotiations with gods and human beings. As he prepares to make propitiatory offerings to the new gods, he is beset by opportunists who hear of the great project. An indigent poetaster offers to glorify the project in verse. A charlatan offers worthless prophecies. When Meton, a surveyor, offers to divide the realm of the air into the principal parts of a typical Greek city, Pisthetaerus thrashes him. An inspector and a dealer in decrees importune him and are likewise thrashed and dismissed. Annoyed by these money-seeking hangers-on, Pisthetaerus retreats into Epops’s shelter to sacrifice a goat. The leader of the birds again sings the praises of his kind and tells how the birds are indispensable to the welfare of humankind.

The sacrifice is completed, and shortly thereafter the wall is finished. All the birds, using their various specialized organs, cooperate in the construction. Then a messenger reports that a winged goddess, sent by Zeus, penetrates into the bird kingdom in spite of the wall. Pisthetaerus issues a call to arms—the birds will war with the gods. When Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, makes her appearance, Pisthetaerus is enraged at the ineffectualness of his wall. Oblivious of the importance assumed by the birds under Pisthetaerus’s influence, Iris declares that she is on her way to ask human beings to make a great sacrifice to the Olympian gods. When Pisthetaerus infers that the birds are now the only gods, Iris pities him for his presumption and warns him not to arouse the Olympians’ ire.

A messenger who was sent as an emissary from the birds to human beings returns and presents Pisthetaerus with a gift, a golden chaplet. Apparently they are delighted with the idea of the bird city; thousands are eager to come there to acquire wings and to live a life of ease. Pleased and flattered, the birds welcome the human beings as they arrive.

First comes a man with thoughts of parricide, who believes that he will at last be free to murder his father. Pisthetaerus points out to him that the young bird might peck at his father, but that later it is his duty to administer to his father. He gives the youth wings and sends him off as a bird-soldier in order to make good use of his inclinations. Next a poet arrives and asks for wings so that he might gather inspiration for his verse from the upper air. Pisthetaerus gives him wings and directs him to organize a chorus of birds. An informer arrives and asks for wings, the better to practice his vicious profession; Pisthetaerus whips him and in despair removes the baskets of wings that were placed at the gate.

Prometheus, the friend of humankind, makes his appearance. Although he still fears the wrath of Zeus, he raises his mask and reports to Pisthetaerus, who recognizes him, that human beings no longer worship Zeus since the bird city, Nephelo-Coccygia, had been founded. He adds that Zeus is deeply concerned and will send a peace mission to the city; he is even prepared to offer to Pisthetaerus one of his maidservants, Basileia, for his wife.

Poseidon, Heracles, and the barbarian god Triballus come upon Pisthetaerus as he is cooking a meal. Pisthetaerus, visibly impressed by their presence, greets them nonchalantly. They promise him plenty of warm weather and sufficient rain if he will drop his project. Their argument might have been more effective were they not so noticeably hungry. Pisthetaerus declares that he will invite them to dinner if they promise to bring the scepter of Zeus to the birds. Heracles, almost famished, promises, but Poseidon is angered by Pisthetaerus’s audacity. Pisthetaerus argues that it is to the advantage of the gods that the birds be supreme on earth since the birds, who are below the clouds, can keep an eye on humankind, while the gods, who are above the clouds, cannot. The birds can, in fact, mete out to men the justice of the gods. The envoys agree to this argument, but they balk when Pisthetaerus insists upon also having Basileia as his wife.

After a heated discussion, Pisthetaerus convinces Heracles, a natural son of Zeus, that he will receive nothing on the death of Zeus, and that Poseidon, as brother of Zeus, will get Heracles’ share of Zeus’s property. Heracles and Triballus prevail over Poseidon in the hot dispute that follows and Basileia is conceded after much argument. The envoys then sit down to dinner. Pisthetaerus, having received the scepter of Zeus, becomes not only the king of the birds but also the supreme deity.

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