"Batrachomyomachia", a Sarcastic Epic Poem
The epic poem "Batrachomyomachia" may be the weirdest literature about amphibians in history. This playful work was claimed to be adapted from Homer's "The Iliad", however, a more reasonable explanation is the author used Homer's reputation to maintain awareness of the work as it was unlikely Homer would create a hilarious poem based on his own renowned piece of work; besides, this work was believed to be created centuries after Homer's era. This work dates from the 5th century B.C., but many believed it might have been created in the 4th or 3rd century B.C. as a manuscript of seventy two sheets survives to date, and the oldest ones may have been recorded in the 10th or 11th century in Oxford. This work became less popular after the 12th century and was left unnoticed until the introduction of the printing press. Surprisingly, the release of "Batrachomyomachia, with a gloss [Greek]" in 1486, earlier than "The Odyssey" and "The Iliad", received vast public notice. It was first translated from Greek to Latin, then to other languages such as Italian, English and French, and the German version was introduced in 1595. It had been long forgotten, but it was a big hit and became required reading material in schools. The war between frogs and mice was triggered by the cowardice of the frog king Physignathos: The mouse king, Psicharpax, accepted Physignathos' invitation of visiting the frogs' palace and rode on the back of a frog. However, seeing a hydra headed toward them, Physignathos panicked and dove into the lake, leaving Psicharpax to drown. The mice demanded a satisfactory response but in vain, and so war was declared. At that moment, Zeus proposed that the gods take sides, but Athena declined the order of assisting the mice "because they've done her a lot of mischief", giving a comedic element to this work. Another well-known work, "The Frog", was the work of Aristophanes (445 - 385 B.C.), one of the most influential comedians in Athens. His work is full of sarcasm, a popular style especially focused on the luxurious life of idealized ancient Greeks. Published in 405 B.C., "The Frog" included the great tragedian Euripides as a character. In this work, frogs are the habitants of Hades to stop evil.
Roman writer and historian Suetonius (70 - 140 AD) recorded the anecdote of young Augustus, the future Roman emperor, ordering the frogs to quiet down in his grandfather's garden. In the story of Latona, Apollo and Diana's mother, written by the Roman poet Ovid (43 BC - 17 AD), frogs also played a major role: The goddess Latona, Jupiter's lover, was banished by jealous Juno. As she reached a foreign land, weary with her burden and parched with thirst, she approached a pond of clear water, and knelt on the bank to quench her thirst. However, the country people forbade her, waded into the pond and stirred up mud with their feet, so as to make the water unfit to drink. Latona was so angry that she ceased to mind her thirst and no longer supplicated the clowns, lifting her hands to heaven and exclaiming, "May they never quit that pool, but pass their lives there!", and the Lycian peasants were turned into frogs. The line "Sub aqua, sub aqua maledicere temptant" mimics the annoying croaks beneath the water.