The Frogs

The lion skin and club are tokens associated with the demigod Herakles, who is also Dionysos’ half-brother (they share the same father, Zeus). According to myth, Herakles acquired these tokens from the monstrous creatures he defeated during his twelve labors. They can be understood as symbolizing the crossing of boundaries. Herakles (like all heroes) straddles the mortal-immortal divide, having one human and one divine parent. The lion skin and club are the physical manifestations of his extraordinary deeds that enabled him to transcend death and become deified.

Within the play, Dionysos and Xanthias pass the costume between them repeatedly, again rendering them as symbols of border transgression, this one involving identity. Whichever figure possesses these tokens is immediately recognized as Herakles. The idea is absurd from a real-life perspective, but in the fantasy world of Frogs, the symbolic becomes real. Thus Xanthias is able to pass as a demigod simply by possessing his tokens.

At the end of the contest between Aischylos and Euripides, the outcome remains uncertain, and Dionysos brings out scales to weight the poets’ words. These scales are comparative, with two sides that balance each other out when weighted with items.