Battle Of Frogs And Mice Audiobook

Battle Of Frogs And Mice audiobook with text and illustrations, and dramatized 🎵 with sound effects and music, by Audiobooks Dimension.

Title : Battle Of Frogs And Mice (Batrachomyomachia | Βατραχομυομαχία)
Author : Homer (Ὅμηρος)
Written : 770 BCE
Place of Origin : Ancient Greece
Original Media type : Papyrus Fragments
Original Language : Ancient Greek
Translator : Hugh G. Evelyn White
Genre(s) : Ancient Greece, Comedy, Comic Epic, Epic Parody, Fable
Narrator : Arthur Krolman
Musicians : Wayne Jones, RKVC, Reed Mathis
Editor : AudioBooks Dimension

_________________________

_________________________

Dramatized 🎵

_________________________

Batrakhomuomakhia (Battle Of Frogs And Mice | Batrakhomakhia | Βατραχομυομαχία) is our sole extant full example of epic parody. It is Homer's only humorous writing, and it is to be regretted the bard left but this one example of his pointed and scintillating wit.

If we can carry ourselves back three thousand years, when the world was still struggling in its chrysalis-shell, we can perhaps faintly realize the powerful effect of this giant mind in the dormant world. Herodotus tells us the life story of this wonderful intellect.

Melesigenes (Homer) was the earliest of the Greek poets, and to him the most beautiful epic poems are credited. He was born at Smyrna in Asiatic Greece. His mother, Critheis, daughter of Menapolus, of Magnesia (now Mausa), lived in great poverty, eking out a miserable existence for herself and son by hard manual labor, and frequently was dependent upon the charity of her neighbors.

Phemius, a teacher of literature and music, which in this sense means mental culture generally, being unmarried, engaged Critheis as his housekeeper, and attracted by her noble character and charming traits, soon wooed and won her, and adopted the little lad, in whom he discerned the latent power of genius.

Melesigenes applied himself to his studies with great zeal, and in a comparatively short time was able to assist Phemius in his studies, and soon after Phemius died, leaving the modest fortune he had accumulated and his school to his adopted son. Critheis did not survive her husband long, thus leaving her son an orphan dependent upon his own resources. He, however, continued the school, displaying remarkably versatile talents, and soon the reputation of his school became universal, and attracted the patricians of Smyrna and many of the traders from foreign shores who came to profit by his teachings. Among these traders was one named Mentes, from the Island of Lewcadia, a man of great wealth and owner of a large galley.

Mentes recognizing Melesigenes’ ability, invited the young preceptor to accompany him on his travels to foreign lands without any expense. Melesigenes gratefully accepted this offer. After visiting Tyrrhenia and Iberia, the Island of Ithaca suddenly loomed before them. Here Melesigenes, suffering from an ophthalmic disease, was compelled to remain behind, while Mentes reluctantly departed, leaving his companion in the care of a friend, Mentor, and promising to resume the interrupted journeys upon his return.

Mentor was rich, and above all, noble-hearted, and devotedly applied himself to make Melesigenes’ stay a pleasant one. It was at this time that Melesigenes collected the data for his wonderful story, the Odyssey, or the adventures of Odysseus after the Trojan war. On Mentes’ return to Ithaca the interrupted travels were resumed. They touched at many points in the Archipelago and on the mainland, and at length came to Colophon, about nine miles from the Ionian City of Bphesus. Here Melesigenes had another attack of the disease of the eyes, and he became blind. This compelled him to return to his home in Smyrna, where he continued his study in poetry and harmonics. A short time after his return, owing to the depleted state of his finances, he left Smyrna for Cumae, the birth-place of his mother, thinking to retrieve his fortunes there. Crossing the Hermaean plain he arrived at Neontichous, an outlying colony of Cumae. Stopping in front of an armorer’s shop he recited some of his verses. The armorer’s interest was aroused, and enchanted by the melodious voice and eloquent words of the blind man, he bade him enter the shop and continue the recitation of the poem there. Melesigenes entered, seated himself and began his Hymn to the Gods. The declamation so impressed Tychius, the armorer, that he invited the poet to share his home with him. Melesigenes, however, only stayed in Neon-teichos a short time, as the income from his poems was very small, and he continued his journey to Cumae. On arriving there he proceeded to the Assembly, which was then in session, and receiving permission to address the people, recited some of his poems, and proposed, if the City would support him, to make it famous through his verses. In the debate which followed this startling proposition, one of the elders said, “ If we were to feed and shelter Homers’ (signifying arranger or collector) we would be burdened with many useless people.” These words checked and changed the growing sentiment of the representatives, and the offer was rejected. From this time on the appellation Homer clung to him.

He at once departed from Cumae, cursing the unfriendly city, and made his way to Phocaea, where he met Thestorides, a teacher of literature, who, thinking he could profit by Homer’s genius, offered him a home if in return Homer would permit him to transcribe his verses. The blind poet gladly accepted this offer. During his sojourn here he composed the little Iliad and the Phocaeid, but the latter was not, however, saved to the world. Thestorides, having collected many of Homer’s poems, left Phocaea, and going to the City of Chios founded a school, recited the verses and proclaimed himself the author. When Homer learned of this plagiarism he decided to go to Chios also and there expose the impostor. While on his way he met a goat-herd, Glaucusm, who sheltered him for a while, and pitying him led him to the house of his master in the city of Bolissus. This man being favorably impressed with Homer, offered him the position of instructor to his children, and weakened from hardships endured in traveling in his helpless condition, Homer accepted. While in this citizen’s house he composed the Celcopia, and Herodotus claims that he wrote his Batrachomyomachia, or The Battle of the Frogs and Mice (*) and numerous other poems during the same period. He at length left Bolissus for Chios, and when Thestorides heard of his approach, he left the city, fearing to meet the man he had so shamefully wronged.

Homer, after proving his authorship of the works which had made such a profound reputation for Thestorides, established a school in Chios, with immediate and splendid success, acquired a fortune, and subsequently married. His poems had by now made him celebrated through all Ionia, and His reputation quickly spread throughout the whole of Greece. Many of his admirers suggested a visit to Athens, and as this accorded with his desires, he undertook the journey, leaving the isle of Chios in the Fall ; his first stop was at Samos, where he passed the Winter. The following Spring he sailed for Athens with some of his Samian friends, but adverse winds drove them for shelter to the island of Ios (now Nio), where they anchored in a sheltered harbor.

Homer, suffering from an internal malady, was carried on shore, where he received honors from the leading citizens of the town. It was destined that he should never reach Athens, and he died at Ios, never recovering from his affliction. He was buried near the shore, and in later years, when his poems became famous, a monument was erected over his grave, with this inscription :

“ The earth here covers the head of divine Homer, whose poetry has immortalized heroes.”
​
Close readings of the parody reveal a deep engagement with Homeric language and themes. The poem’s plot features a friendship between a frog and a mouse that, following the mouse’s death by falling from the frog’s back during a pond-crossing, results in heroic combat between their ‘tribes’, culminating in a mouse victory (aided by crabs sent by Zeus). The poem also features heroic genealogies, grandiose speeches, type-scenes, a use of paradeigma (e.g., Europa and Zeus), a divine council and divine intervention. At times, the poem may provide parody of the Iliad specifically. Recent scholarship has argued that the parody is engaged in serious—albeit indirect—literary criticism. Inconsistencies in the poem, as when combatants die only to reappear, have been seen by some as intentional imitations of a ‘nodding Homer’ rather than evidence of manuscript corruption.

The poem is very funny at times and attests to deep engagement with different generic traditions, including animal fable, parodic animal epic, the language of tragedy and comedy, as well as traditional epic and myth.

_________________________

Names mentioned in The Battle Of Frogs And Mice :

Mice :

1. Bread-nibbler : father of the Mouse-Prince Crumb-snatcher[1]. He hit hit Loud-crier in the belly and killed him. Later he hit Puff-jaw on the toes but failed to kill him.
2. Bread-stealer : father of Gnawer and grandfather of Slice-snatcher.
3. Cheese-carver : father of the herald Pot-visitor.
4. Cheese-eater : killed by a frog, 7th casualty of war.
5. Crumb-snatcher[1] : the Mouse-Prince, whose drowning at the hands of Puff-jaw precipitates the war.
6. Crumb-snatcher[2] : hit Leeky[1] before he reached the land and killed him. Cabbage-climber nearly blinded him with a clod of mud, but Crumb-snatcher[2] hit back with a huge stone, splintered Cabbage-climber’s whole right shin. He was killed by Croakperson’s reed-spear, became 12th casualty of war.
7. Gnawer : father of Slice-snatcher. He went to his house and bade his son take part in the war.
8. Ham-gnawer : the Mouse-King, father of Quern-licker and grandfather of Crumb-snatcher[1].
9. Ham-nibbler : the Mouse-Lord. He caused Reedy to fled but later was killed by Water-larked, became 9th casualty of war.
10. Lick-platter : witness the death of Crumb-snatcher[1], then inform the Mice about Puff-jaw’s crime. He was killed by Muck-coucher later, became 10th casualty of war.
11. Lickman[1] : killed by Loud-croaker, 1st casualty of war.
12. Lickman[2] : hit Ocimides in the midriff with a spear and killed him, then ran after and killed Cabbage-eater that ran away.
13. Pot-visitor[1] : herald of the Mice, declares war upon the Frogs, and later killed Brewer in the war.
14. Pot-visitor[2] : killed by Beety, 3rd casualty of war.
15. Quern-licker : mother of the Mouse-Prince Crumb-snatcher[1].
16. Slice-snatcher : the mightiest warrior who had great strength that might caused the extinction of the Frogs if the gods didn’t intervene.
17. Troglodyte : drove his spear deep into the son of Mudman breast and killed him. He was wounded by Pond-larker with a rock, but limping away from the fight and leaped into a trench to escape sheer death.

Frogs :

1. Beety : struck Pot-visitor[2] to the heart and killed him.
2. Brewer : killed by the herald Pot-visitor[1], 8th casualty of war.
3. Cabbage-climber : hurled a clod of mud at Crumb-snatcher[2] and nearly blinding him. Crumb-snatcher[2] hit him with a huge stone and splintered his whole right shin. He was saved by Croakperson.
4. Cabbage-eater : running away from the fight, but fell by the hand of Lickman[2], 6th casualty of war.
5. Croakperson : saved injured Cabbage-climber’s life by killing Crumb-snatcher[2], drove the whole reed-spear in the middle of the belly.
6. Leeky[1] : dragged Lick-platter by the foot, though he was dead, and choked him in the lake. He was killed by Crumb-snatcher[2] before he reached the land, 11th casualty of war.
7. Leeky[2] : hurled a sharp reed at Bread-nibbler to rescue Puff-jaw, but the point of the spear was stayed and did not break Bread-nibbler’s shield.
8. Loud-crier : killed by Bread-nibbler, 4th casualty of war.
9. Loud-croaker : struck Lickman[1] in the belly and killed him.
10. Muck-coucher : sprang upon Lick-platter and killed him with his spear.
11. Mud-man : father of the Frog-King Puff-jaw.
12. Ocimides : a brave Frogs warrior and friend of Loud-crier. He was killed by Lickman[2], 5th casualty of war.
13. Pond-larker[2] : wounded Troglodyte in his soft neck  with a rock like a mill-stone.
14. Puff-jaw : the Frog-King, begins the war by accidentally drowning the Mouse-Prince Crumb-snatcher[1]. Wounded by Bread-nibbler, the father of Crumb-snatcher[1], but was rescued by Leeky[2].
15. Reedy : took to flight when he saw Ham-nibbler,  and fled, plunging into the lake and throwing away his shield.
16. Rueful : a noble and mighty warrior, he only among the Frogs showed prowess in the throng. But he dived down to the depths of the lake when the Mice rushed at him.
17. Son of Mudman : killed by Troglodyte, 2nd casualty of war.
18. Water-larked : strike the lord Ham-nibbler on the head with a pebble and killed him.
19. Waterlady : mother of the Frog-King Puff-jaw.

Deities :

1. Ares (Ἄρης) : the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war but can also personify sheer brutality and bloodlust, in contrast to his sister Athena, whose martial functions include military strategy and generalship. An association with Ares endows places, objects, and other deities with a savage, dangerous, or militarized quality.
2. Athena (Αθηνη) : an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft.
3. Hera (Ἥρα) : the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Olympus, sister and wife of Zeus, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. One of her defining characteristics in myth is her jealous and vengeful nature in dealing with any who offended her, especially Zeus's numerous adulterous lovers and illegitimate offspring.
4. Muses (Μοῦσαι) : the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in ancient Greek culture. The number and names of the Muses differed by region, but from the Classical period the number of Muses was standardized to nine, and their names were generally given as Calliope, Clio, Polyhymnia, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Erato, Melpomene, Thalia, and Urania.
5. Pallas : same deity as Athena.
6. Zeus (Ζεύς) : the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born.

Others :

1. Centaurs (κένταυρος) : a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being as wild as untamed horses, and were said to have inhabited the region of Magnesia and Mount Pelion in Thessaly, the Foloi oak forest in Elis, and the Malean peninsula in southern Laconia.
2. Enceladus (Ἐγκέλαδος) : one of the Giants, the offspring of Gaia (Earth) and Uranus (Sky). Enceladus was struck down by Zeus' thunderbolt during the Gigantomachy, the war between the Giants and the gods, and was said to be buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.
3. Giants[2] (Γίγαντες) : a race of great strength and aggression, though not necessarily of great size. They were known for the Gigantomachy (or Gigantomachia), their battle with the Olympian gods. According to Hesiod, the Giants were the offspring of Gaia (Earth), born from the blood that fell when Uranus (Sky) was castrated by his Titan son Cronus.

Human :

1. Capaneus (Καπανεύς) : a son of Hipponous and husband of Evadne, with whom he fathered Sthenelus. Capaneus had immense strength and body size and was an outstanding warrior. He was also notorious for his arrogance. He stood just at the wall of Thebes during the war of the Seven against Thebes and shouted that Zeus himself could not stop him from invading it. While he was mounting the ladder, Zeus struck and killed Capaneus with a thunderbolt.
2. Europa (Εὐρώπη) : a Phoenician princess from Tyre and the mother of King Minos of Crete. The continent of Europe is named after her. Zeus was enamoured of Europa and decided to seduce or rape her. He transformed himself into a tame white bull and mixed in with her father's herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, and eventually got onto his back. Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her a necklace made by Hephaestus and three additional gifts: the bronze automaton guard Talos, the hound Laelaps who never failed to catch his quarry, and a javelin that never missed.

_________________________

Places mentioned in Batrachomyomachia :

1. Crete (Κρήτη) : the largest and most populous of the Greek islands.
2. Eridanus (Ἠριδανός) : a river in Greek mythology, somewhere in Central Europe, which was territory that Ancient Greeks knew only vaguely.
3. Hades (ᾍδης) : the land of the dead--the final resting place for departed souls. It was a dark and dismal realm where bodiless ghosts flitted across the grey fields of asphodel.
4. Helicon (Ἑλικών) : a mountain in the region of Thespiai in Boeotia, Greece. In Greek mythology, two springs sacred to the Muses were located here: the Aganippe and the Hippocrene.
5. Olympus (Ολυμπος) : a mountain in Thessaly, northern Greece, the home of the twelve gods of Olympus in Greek mythology who dwelt in fabulous palaces of marble and gold.

_________________________

Terms mentioned in The Battle Of Frogs And Mice :

1. Giants[1] : refer to humankind.
2. Pond-larker[1] : an epithet of the Frog-King Puff-jaw.
3. Son of Chronos : refer to the god Zeus.
4. Titan-killer : thunderbolt of Zeus.

_________________________

How to support my work :

Like, Comment, Subscribe and Share.
Treat me some tea :
Buy 'The Battle Of Frogs And Mice' book :
Try Audible :
Try Amazon Kindle Unlimited :
Give audiobook as a Gift :

This blog receives a small commission from purchasing through the Amazon affiliate links above. It does not cost you extra money, so you can buy everything through my affiliate links without worry. It is a great way to support content creator and help out the blog. Thank you!
_________________________

Where else to find my work :

Rumble :
_________________________