The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2

"The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2" by Aristophanes is a compilation of funny plays from ancient Greece that makes fun of life in Athens, showcasing how silly its rules and ways could be. The book starts with "The Wasps," a story about Philocleon, an old man who loves being a juryman, and his son, Bdelycleon, who tries to stop him from going to court so much; as Bdelycleon tries to keep his dad home, crazy things happen, like Philocleon trying to sneak out of the house. The opening section paints a vibrant and funny picture of the battles between them, filled with ridiculous situations, and gives Aristophanes a chance to share his witty thoughts on the court system and the city's love for lawsuits.

Aristophanes was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. These provide the most valuable examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are used to define it, along with fragments from dozens of lost plays by Aristophanes and his contemporaries.