[1] Vickers, "Alcibiades on Stage," CQ 45 (1995), p. 339 summarizes the positions against a political reading.

[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."

[12] Though one should be careful not to associate Perikles with Zeus in PV. See Griffith, Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound (Cambridge 1983), p. 7.

[13] Fr. 205 (Nauck2), linç d°, p€!!a k»mol€nou makro‹ tÒnoi, according to Pollux 10,64 (who quotes this line) are t«n d¢ gumna!€oi! pro!hkÒntvn !keu«n, and while this may be, the items here seem more likely to be used to make a torch. Fr. 206, trãgo! g°neion îra penyÆ!ei! !Ê ge, is, like 206, an admonition about the fire — it is also ascribed to Aesop by Perry (no. 467 in Aesopica, vol. 1 [Urbana 1952]).

[14] For the vases cf. esp. Beazley, "Prometheus Fire-Lighter," AJA 43 (1939) 618-639, and Brommer, Satyrspiele2 (Berlin 1959), pp. 48-52 and plates 42-46; for discussion of the play, cf. Sutton, The Greek Satyr Play, Beiträge zur klassischen Philologie 90 (Meisenheim am Glan 1980), pp. 25-6.

[15] Brommer, Satyrspiele2, p. 49.

[16] It is sometimes common that in Aischylos "the principal character of the [tragic] trilogy reappears in a comic situation in the accompanying satyr play," Sutton, "The Satyr Play," in P. E. Easterling & B. M. W. Knox (eds.), The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, vol. 1, part 2, Greek Drama (Cambridge 1989) p. 97. But Prometheus Pyrkaeus does not appear to have similarities to the extant Persians, though perhaps to Phineus if Prometheus' ability to prophesy all to well the events of the future is anything like Prometheus' (cf. Apollodoros 1.9.21), and nothing to Glaukos Potnieus whose mares, kept from breeding and fed on human flesh, killed and devoured their master at the funeral games for Pelias. Nonetheless, that the practice was not uncommon in Aischylos may point to a comic situation in Prometheus Pyrkaeus that at least reflects and parodies the Prometheus myth as it was known, for example, in Hesiod.

[17] Snell-Mähler, Pindari Carmina (Leipzig 1987).

[18] W. J. Verdenius (ad loc. in his commentary on this ode, Mnemosyne Supp. 97 [Leiden 1987]) rightly translates the phrase as "reserve which keeps at a respectful distance" and the kind of "prudence of the man who avoids excessive risks." However, recollection of Prometheus and his relationship with fire and sacrifice (and with those, burnt offerings) is unmistakable here, even though "it is far more difficult to imagine that the Heliadae would not have forgotten the fire if they had in some way 'respected' Prometheus" (Verdenius, n. 71 ad loc.). In this case, both intentions are possible since this gnomic transition applies to both the victor (as similar transitions do in many other odes) and to the Heliadai in their attempt to establish sacrifices for Athena. Verdenius also notes that Prometheus and Aidos should be capitalized. Cf. also Guthrie, In the Beginning, n. 5, p. 139 for similar sentiments.

[19] NA 6,51 and Page, Lyrcia Graeca Selecta (Oxford 1968; repr. with corrections 1973) Ibykos fr. 291.

[20] A comic poet contemporary with Epicharmos. Cf. DTC2, pp. 289-90.

[21] Perry, Aesopica, 458.

[22] West, Iambi et Elegi Graeci II2 (Oxford 1992), fr. B1.

[23] And perhaps also with the Gigantomachy if the oracle the Olympians received about defeating the Giants has anything to do with Prometheus Cf. Apollodoros 1,6,1 for the oracle.

[24] Cf. esp. PV 218-20 and 306-8.

[25] For discussion of this play (and its possible titles — Pyrrha and Prometheus, Prometheus, Deukalion, Pyrrha or Leukarion) and its fragments cf. DTC2 265-68.

[26] DCT2, loc. cit., suggests that the fragments from this play reveal a Prometheus associated both with fire and technical arts, esp. fr. 27 which mentions "cooking by sunlight and taking a bath without fire."

[27] DTC2 p. 266.

[28] Hdt. 2,134, if it is accurate, allows us to date Aesop to the late 6th century. He says that Aesop was the slave an Iadmon of Samos. The courtesan Rhodopis was a fellow slave for Iadmon, and, according to Herodotos, when she was brought to Egypt, Sappho's brother Charaxos bought her freedom. M. L. West, "The Ascription of Fables to Aesop," in La Fable (Genève 1984) 105-136.

[29] West, "Ascription," p. 121-2.

[30] Perry Aesopica 240, 430, 266 (Babrius), 515b (Phaedrus), and 535 (from Niccolo Perotti's [1430-80] transcription of fables from Aesop, Avianus, and Phaedrus).

[31] Cf. Av. 686 where humans are described as plã!mata phloË. This recalls that in Aesopic fables Prometheus created humans from clay (in Aesopica 515b Prometheus is auctor vulgi fictilis) as well as from mud or earth (Aesopica 266, ênyrvpon plã!a!yai §k g∞!). It also recalls a fragment from Aischylos (Nauck2 369), toË phloplã!matou !p°rmato! ynhtØ gunÆ which Proclus (on Hes. Op. 156) says describes the race of Pandora. Dunbar ad 686: "The first attribution to Prometheus of man's creation, as distinct from his many benefactions, seems to be in the New Comedy poet Philemon (fr. 93…), but Prometheus' reputation for philanthropy and ingenuity makes it likely that the idea is far older than the late 4th c."

[32] So Poseidon is further shocked at 1635, oÈ diallag«n §rçi!. And the verb here, I think, is a subtle echo of its other uses in the play, especially 411-12 (¶rv! b€ou dia€th! te, Tereus explaining to the chorus of birds what has compelled Peisetairos and Euelpides to want to live with them) which itself picks up from 324 (Tereus: êndr' §dejãmhn §rastå t∞!de t∞! !unou!€a!). Both of these, it seems, are possible echoes of what Thukydides puts in the mouth of Perikles in the funeral oration of book 2 (43,1): §ra!tå! gignom°nou! aÈt∞! (sc. pÒlev!); this being a fairly common expression and sentiment perhaps vogue in the last quarter or so of the fifth century. See further Hdt. 3,53,4 (turann‹! xr∞ma !falerÒn, pollo‹ d¢ aÈt∞! §ra!ta€ efi!i, kt•), Dover, Greek Homosexuality, p. 156-7 (ap. Rusten Thucydides ad 43,1, p. 169), and Arrowsmith, "Aristophanes' Birds."

[33] ad 1596-9, p. 721.

[34] ibid.: "Peisetairos' argument here is blatantly false;"

[35] Sommerstein's correction of épÒxrh; cf. Dunbar p. 723 ad 1603.

[36] While gã!tri! only occurs elsewhere at Thesm. 816, one can hardly avoid the allusion here to Hesiod's poim°ne! êgrauloi, kãk' §l°gkea, ga!t°re! o‰on (Theog. 26).

[37] in Thrace? Cf. Hdt. 7,123,1; Strabo frr. 25, 27 and Steph. Byz. s.v. Fl°gra; Dunbar has doubts, p. 494.

[38] At 363 Euelpides says of Peisetairos, Íperakont€zei! !Ê g' ≥dh Nik€an ta›! mhxana›!.

[39] included in Bowie's list of references to the Gigantomachy in his Aristophanes, p. 161.

[40] Hofmann, pp. 86-7: the "Vermischung von Titanen- und Gigantenkampf kann damit erklärt werden, daß Aristophanes aus den jeweiligen Mythen herausgriff, was ihm wirksam und zugleich am besten für sein Zwecke geeignet erschein, und sich nicht darum kümmerte, ob das Material auch zu allen Zügen seiner komischen Handlund paßte und in allen Punkten aufeinander abgestimmt war." Dunbar, p. 8 expresses similar sentiments: "We may infer from all this that Aristophanes did not expect his audience to form a clear, consistent idea of the justice of the birds' attack on the Olympians, and used elements indifferently from the Titanomachia and Gigantomachia myths purely for dramatic effect, not for their ethical content."