Aristophanes: Peace: Greek text with Introduction and Commentary - Tapa dura

first-rate commentary, which should last for generations. (Classical Wolrd)

a superb full-scale edition and commentary (Classical World)

finally offers the up-to-date scholarly edition of the play that we have needed for so long (Classical Journal)

Aristophanes' Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 BC as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson's edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer's of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, but it focuses in particular on the realities of day-to-day life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes' early career, the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet's theology.