The Frogs

This second scene comprises two parts: Dionysos’ arrival in Hades and the entrance (called parodos in ancient Greek) of the second Chorus, who are initiates in the Eleusinian Mysteries. In the first part, Aristophanes includes stock gags such as having the actors tease the audience. For example, when Dionysos and Xanthias are trying to figure out if they have arrived at the place Herakles sent them to (where the “father-beaters” and “perjurers” are), Dionysos peers at the audience and says, “I still see them now!” (181). (Notably, Xanthias is the first to understand that what is happening around them is exactly what Herakles told them to seek). There is another address to the audience when Dionysos is afraid of the creature he and Xanthias see approaching. Dionysos runs toward the first row (where a priest of Dionysos would likely be sitting) and cries out, “O priest, protect me—I want to drink with you later” (184). The drinking reference may refer to an after-party that Dionysos, who is the god of theater, expects to attend. The idea of the priest protecting the god also represents a kind of momentary identity swap.

The Chorus enters, singing, “Iakchos, hail Iakchos,” a divine name which may be associated with Dionysos. As they sing, Xanthias and Dionysos retreat to the side, though not before banter and sexual innuendo. Xanthias notes the “lovely odor of pig flesh” wafting toward them, to which Dionysos replies, “Keep still, then, please, if you want to get some sausage” (186). Piglets may have been a sacrificial animal and also had sexual connotations, here melding the sacred and the ribald.

The Chorus was comprised of initiates to the Eleusinian Mysteries, which was a public cult of great importance in Athens at this time. Initiates represented a broad cross-section of society: men and women, enslaved and free, poor and prosperous, Athenians and non-Athenians. In this sense, they do not represent the play’s audience, which would largely have been male, but Greek society at large. Anyone who met the criteria (e.g. understood Greek, had not committed homicide) could and did participate. The Eleusinian Mystery cult was dedicated to Demeter, goddess of the harvest and the seasonal cycle. Thus, to properly honor her would be seen as essential to the survival of the city. It is therefore significant that Aristophanes chose initiates to this cult for his Chorus in a play about how to save Athens. Demeter is the goddess who protects the harvests that feed and nurture the city. The play is part of a festival that is designed to honor and thus invite the protection of the god Dionysos. Rendering his Chorus as these initiates, Aristophanes brings together two important sacred rites, the Eleusinian Mysteries and comic theater.