Aristophanes Three - the Median Bird.

#aristophanes #birds #greekcomedy #chickens #roosters

Aristophanes is one of the first if not the first Western writers to mention Roosters.

Line 275

EEE Zeus another truly outlandish bird is here
the next line about muse-prophet summit travelling bird is probably a parody of an other dramatist

Chickens were relatively new to Greece, not quite as exotic as peacocks but still regarded as ...foreign.

The Hoopoe King calls him a Median bird. Median was used interchangeably with Persian.

Chickens had already reached Egypt and the Near East.

Lines 482 >>

One character argues that Persians were ruled by Roosters and compares the King of Kings tiara to a roosters crest ...also that the Rooster was one of the Birds that once ruled the world and further proof is still the roosters morning song awakes workers, smiths, potters, and others.

Do try to look up the greek text, maybe in a Loeb, if your Greek is limited, and sound out the text.

It sounds so much more poetic in Greek !