This appendix takes issue with Herington's claim that [Aischylos'] portrayal of Zeus as a tyrant in PV was unique to Greek drama, and that the similar theme in Birds, most evident in the first half of the play where Peisetairos makes his case for the birds' supremacy over Zeus' rule (cf. esp. 464ff.), necessarily alludes to the Prometheia: He says "there are…general grounds for supposing that the introduction of this uncommon theme [i.e. Zeus' reign as a tyranny] into an Old Comedy is likely to mean allusion to, or parody of, the Aeschylean treatment."[2] The phrase t™Øn DiÚ! turann€da occurs twice in PV (10 and 357); never in Euripides; once in Sophokles (fr. 320 Nauck2); and in Ploutos (124), and only there. Contra Herington, however, comparison of Zeus to Perikles with the intention of showing Perikles to be an all-powerful sort of tyrant appears in early Attic comedy. Most importantly, the following examples show that comedy could think of Zeus and his absolute rule as the paradigm for tyranny, as he seems to be invoked by the chorus of Clouds (Nub. 563-4): Ícim°donta m¢n ye«n/ Z∞na tÊrannon. Furthermore, this appendix should also show that Birds is not solely dependent on PV for thematic content, and that notions in PV that Herington, e.g., would claim to be unique are to be found elsewhere.

Perikles is compared to Zeus three times. The temper of the comparisons suggests that the regimes of each operated as if tyrannies. From Telekleides, fr. 18 PCG of Hesiods (440-430),[3] Athenaios (10,436f) tells us about Chrysille the Korinthian ∏! ka‹ Perikl°a ÉOlÊmpion §rçn: as if she were to Perikles as the many women whom Zeus sexually exploited were to him. In Kratinos' Cheirones (436-431) the centaurs are called to Athens (in order to help the Athenians) because there was "disgust with the Periclean régime."[4] We have a fragment from the same play by Kratinos, a faux cosmology like the one in Birds: !tã!i! d¢ ka‹ pre!bugenØ! KrÒno! éllÆloi!i mig°nte/ m°gi!ton t€kteton tÊrannon, ˘n dØ kefalhger°tan yeo‹ kal°ou!in.[5] There is a play on the word nefelhger°tan, a Homeric epithet of Zeus, with kefalhger°tan which is a reference to the shape of Perikles' head.[6] Lastly, at Acharnians (425) 528ff.: kéke›yen èrxØ toË pol°mou katerrãgh/ÜEllh!i pç!i §k tri«n laiko!tri«n. §nteËyen Ùrgª Perikl°h! oÍlÊmpio!/≥!trapt', §brÒnta, junekÊka tØn ÑEllãda. Since this play is about regaining peace and reversing the economic effects of the war (at least for Dikaiopolis), Aristophanes presents Perikles, the initiator of that war, as a rumbling, demanding, and overbearing Zeus. The language here, as in the other passages, associates both Perikles' and Zeus' rule with tyranny.

Furthermore,[7] in Kratinos' Ploutoi (436?),[8] which is mentioned by Herington but not given much significance,[9] it seems clear that during the reign of Zeus the Titans (gods of wealth and prosperity in this play, much as Ploutos was in Aristophanes' play by that name), were enslaved: éllå ZeÁ! K]rÒnon §g ba[!ile€a!/ §kbãllei k]a‹ Titçne! to[Á!/ !ta!iãzo]nta! de!m`[o›! élÊtoi!/ dÆ!a! ÍpÚ g∞n §kãlucen;[10]Later in the fragment, the Titans explain that they have returned to Athens to see their aÈtoka!€gnhton palaiÒn (17,25 PCG), who is probably Prometheus. If this is the case, the Kratinos fragment resembles a fragment from the Prometheus Unbound (190 Nauck2), perhaps the last play in the Prometheus trilogy: ¥komen [lacuna brevis]/toÁ! !oÁ! êylou! toÊ!de, PromhyeË,/ de!moË te pãyo! tÒd' §pocÒmenoi.... If the Titans of Kratinos' Ploutoi, released from the tyranny of Zeus, come to Athens (?) to reinstate a new age, and this alludes to Perikles and his temporary ouster in 430,[11] then it might not be implausible to see PV, the plays of its trilogy, and the references cited here to Pericles as a Zeus-like tyrant as a common literary theme of the time.[12] From this it is not difficult to see how Aristophanes probably picked up on the theme of Zeus as tyrant.

[2] Herington, "Birds and Prometheia," Phoenix 17 (1963) p. 237.

[3] Geissler, Chronologie der Altattischen Komödie (Berlin 1925).

[4] Norwood, Greek Comedy (London 1931), p. 126.

[5] Fr. 258 PCG.

[6] Cf. also Kratinos' Yrçittai fr. 73 PCG.

[7] We might also mention Pherekrates' AÈtÒmoloi in which there are three fragments that seem to allude to trouble between humans and immortals: 20 (Edmonds) in which someone asks Zeus to make it snow so that the crops may have water when it melts — is the person displeased with the gods?; 23 (Edmonds) in which the gods complain that humans take the best part of the sacrifice; and 28 (Edmonds) in which a god again complains about the quality of human sacrifices. Who are the deserters? Norwood, Greek Comedy, p. 161 says that "this [fr. 23], together with the title of the play, might suggest that (as in Aristophanes' Peace) the gods have deserted mankind." It may be equally possible that these fragments represent an argument between humans and mortals in which the mortals in fact abandon the gods. A similar kind of abandonment (of Olympian gods) happens in Ploutos where Hermes has to come to earth and complain, éf' o går ≥rjat' §j érx∞! bl°pein/ı PloËto!, oÈde‹! oÈ libanvtÒn, oÈ dãfnhn,/oÈ cai!tÒn, oÈx flere›on, oÈx êll' oÈd¢ ©n/≤m›n ¶ti yÊei to›! yeo›!.

[8] 429?

[9] He does not discuss the fragment but merely says "the only known comedy where it [Zeus' reign as tyranny] may have been alluded to at any length is the Ploutoi of Cratinus, one fragment of which looks very like a parody of the opening scene of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound." Herington, "Birds and Prometheia," p. 236-7.

[10] fr. 171,18-20 PCG.

[11] Heath, "Aristophanes and His Rivals," G & R 37.2 (1990) p. 148: "The overthrow of the tyranny and the restoration of democracy…is generally taken as a reference to the impeachment and temporary ousting from office of Pericles in 430; the play would then date from 429."