Aristophanes' Clouds

Aristophanes' comedy "Clouds" is a humorous send-up of Greek rationalism, science, atheism, and lawyerly sophistry, as supposedly represented by Socrates and the philosophical and sophistic schools of Athens. Aristophanes portrays intellectuals as an arrogant class of effete and pasty skinned unbelievers. Except for their skills in rhetoric, which help them get around the law and rip people off, their knowledge is of little worldly or practical value. In other words, their heads are figuratively in the clouds (hence the play's title)."Clouds" is funny in places, but also disturbing in its anti-intellectualism and nostalgia for marshal virtues and doubt-free theism. If Aristophanes were alive today, he might be a caustic, and very conservative, Republican (or even a Fascist). For all this, his play has an undeniably contemporary feel in its critiques of rhetoric, and makes a good primer for reflection on the nihilistic and shameless uses of argumentation (as when oil company representatives engage in blatant sophistries to cast doubt on global warming science).But when, at the end of the play, the lead character (Strepsiades) gleefully burns down the school of Socrates, one is sobered by the reactionary nature of the play. The ending reminds one of humanity's long and tragic history of genocide and iconoclasm (the destroying of a rival ideology's texts, idols, symbols, or buildings). The ending of Aristophanes' play clearly suggests that the killing of an entire class of people in his society would be a positive development. It is not without reason that Plato famously attributed Socrates' death, at least in part, to the popular prejudice generated against him by Aristophanes' "Clouds."In short, Aristophanes' play is thought-provoking, funny, and sobering. It's an easy read and, even after 2500 years, still relevant.

The Clouds: Illustrated A little light reading, for class. The Clouds, I needed the information in a hurry, but then I like reading anyway. This book was good and worthwhile. It landed in my Kindle book collection, and I take my books with me where ever I go. Love it! Illustrations are alright but not great. I can change the fonts to a size that is comfortable to read without glasses, or I can turn on the text reader and listen. Love my Kindle and love the books that I buy to go with it. The prices are so great, lots of the classics are free, leaving room in the budget to buy the others that are not. One day I may have enough time to read The Clouds for pleasure.

this book came with no problem. There was nothing wrong with it, in great condition as promised. I received it with no issues and in a timely manner. I would recommend this to anyone and this seller as well. Great experience

This book was difficult to read. It was filled with mechanical errors. words were spelled wrong, the grammar was off, and several parts of the book were switched.

Full of typos, which I would forgive if not for Henderson's egregious renderings of the Greek, to the point that it was obnoxious to read. I've been a huge fan of Focus for a while, but this is embarrassing and I will not be getting another from their classical library series.

Does not have line numbers which would help me with my studies and class.

Good read!

Yes, of course, it's a classic, it's Aristophanes. But it's kind of sophomoric in its humor and it libeled Socrates in a way that was used against him at his trial. Socrates is branded a sophist, which he wasn't. Sophists were the precursors of out trial lawyers, i.e., legal guns for hire. Socrates (at least as we know him through Plato's Dialogues) was absolutely devoted to the philosophical pursuit of discovering the Good, the True, and the Beautiful. Socrates's conception of the realm of ideas is in opposition to the relativism preached by the sophists.I re-read Clouds lo these many years after college, because my UChicago Book Club chose it. One of the most interesting issues we discussed is what do the Clouds represent in the comedy. They are the Chorus. They are thus a character or voice within the narrative, but they also comment on the action from a meta perspective. They represent the new gods of physics, but they defend the traditional gods. So, Aristophanes seems to accept the reality of science as a method of discovery, but thinks Athenian society needs to hang on to the traditional Greek gods for stability. He lived through the Peloponnesian War, the destruction of the democracy, tyrannical rule, civil war, and a pandemic. So, it's understandable why he might want to return to a safer, traditional time.

This was essential reading for a university course. It is simply a satire of Socrates and as such is not the best of Aristophanes' plays. At least two others come to mind, The Fogs, and The Lysistrata, as better crafted.