Full text · 7 chaptersNarrated in your voice
What it's about
With Athens short of good poets, the god Dionysus goes down to the underworld with his slave Xanthias to bring Euripides back, and ends up judging a contest between Euripides and Aeschylus for the throne of tragedy. A comedy that is also the first piece of literary criticism in Western literature, in Rogers' verse translation from the Harvard Classics.
Reading plan
Pick a finish date and Genius lays out the days — the plan shows today's target and keeps you honest.
Read together
Start a circle and share the code — everyone sees everyone's honest place in the book. Accountability, not leaderboards.
Who it's for
- Readers of Greek tragedy who want to see it argued over and mocked - Anyone who enjoys a comic journey to the land of the dead - Students of literary criticism looking for its earliest roots
