Aristophanes
Aristophanes combined slapstick, humour and cheerful vulgarity with acute political observations. In Frogs, Dionysus descends to the Underworld to bring back a poet who can help Athens in its darkest hour and stages a great debate. The clash of generations and values is also the object of Aristophanes' satire in Wasps, in which an old-fashioned father and his loose-living son come to blows and end up in court. The introduction discusses Aristophanes' life, the cultural context of his work, conventions of Greek comedy and includes extensive notes and a preface for each play.