A comedy by Aristophanes, Athenian dramatist (c.450 B.C.-c.385 B.C.). The subject is the descent to the underworld of Dionysus in search of a tragic poet par excellence. This results in his having to choose between Aeschylus the tragedian of the old school and the contemporary and avant-garde Euripides. A public contest ensues in which they attack and make fun of each other's work and which ends in a victory for the former.