The Frogs

:This article is about the play by Aristophanes. The Frogs is also a controversial rock band. See The Frogs.

Plot synopsis

Dionysus decides to descend into the underworld, a Katabasis, in order to bring Euripides back from the dead. He is taught the safest way by Heracles, his half-brother, and the only living man to have successfully made the journey there and back (other ways include hanging, hemlock, and hurtling from high towers, which Dionysus declines...) Heracles gives Dionysus directions, and the ritual lion skin and club (Heracles hyper-masculinity is mockingly contrasted with Dionysus? effeminacy in this scene). Dionysus travels with a slave on this journey, with whom he will constantly exchange the lion skin and club, in order to gain advantage in various situations. Travelling via Charon?s ferry, Dionysus listens to the chorus of the frogs (as amphibians, effectively guardians of the passage between the two worlds, their chant - Brekekekex ko-ax ko-ax is constantly repeated as if it were a magical invocation). These turn out to be the dead initiates of the Eleusinian Mysteries, and after winning a contest with them, Dionysus manages to cross the river Styx. More obstacles face the travellers however. Following threats from Aeacos - the aged gatekeeper of Hades - of a terrifying ordeal, after which Dionysus admits to soiling himself (though telling Xanthias the slave that he gave an 'involuntary libation'), as well as hearing promises of the luxuries of food and dancing girls awaiting them, the pair pass a final whipping ordeal - to ?prove their divinity.? They finally trick their way passed Aeacos into the palace of Hades. When recognized, Dionysus is then made the judge in the great Agon, or poetry contest, between Euripides and Aeschylus, and unexpectedly brings back Aeschylus.

Related Topics:
Katabasis - Heracles - Eleusinian Mysteries

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The play is clearly a comedy and mocks Dionysus and his ways (some believe a secret initiation of the Dionysian Mysteries may even be preserved in the narrative), however the humour also contains a secret lesson.

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