Dionysus's Mistake: Re-Thinking the Victory of Aeschylus in Frogs

Abstract

Abstract Dionysus, patron deity of the Athenian dramatic festivals, is portrayed by Aristophanes as being bad at a wide variety of activities in the first half of Frogs. I argue that this portrayal extends throughout the second half of the play as well and that Dionysus's decision to resurrect Aeschylus rather than Euripides may be read as the culmination of this quality. In making the patron deity of the dramatic festivals judge poorly in a contest of the dramatic arts, Aristophanes both participates in the genre's “Dionysus as comic anti-hero” motif and outdoes his Old Comic rivals’ previous efforts at the same.