For the Play was written in the year 412 b.c. At the very darkest period of the Peloponnesian War, the darkest, that is to say, before the ultimate disaster of Aegospotami, and the consequent Fall of Athens. It was produced at the commencement of the year 411 B. C., but whether at the Lenaea or at the Great Dionysia, and with what success, the scanty record which has come down to us contains nothing to show. At the time when Aristophanes commenced it, he must have felt grave doubt whether it would ever be exhibited in an Athenian theatre.