The Frogs

Athens has lost its great tragic poets, so Dionysus, god of the theatre, travels down to the underworld, disguised as Heracles and followed by his grumbling slave Xanthias, to bring back Euripides. After crossing the lake of the dead, where a chorus of frogs croaks 'Brekekekex koax koax', he finds himself judging a contest between Euripides and the older Aeschylus, who even weigh their verses on a giant scale, and Dionysus finally chooses the poet who can best save the city.

Aristophanes staged the comedy in 405 BC, soon after the deaths of Euripides and Sophocles and shortly before Athens lost its war with Sparta, and it won first prize. It is the earliest work of literary criticism in the form of a comedy. Read his Lysistrata and the Medea of Euripides.