The New International Encyclopædia/Batrachomyomachia

BATRACHOMYOMA′CHIA (Gk. βατραχομυομαχία, ‘The Battle of the Frogs and the Mice,’ from βάτραχος, batrachos, frog + μῦς, mys, mouse + μάχη, machē, battle). A Greek mock-heroic poem, erroneously bearing the name of Homer. The ancients said that its actual author was Pigres of Caria, brother of Queen Artemisia, who joined Xerxes in his invasion of Greece. The poem is a parody on the Iliad, in which the military preparations and contests of beasts, single combats, intervention of the gods, and other Homeric circumstances are described with much humor. Chief critical edition by Ludwich (Leipzig, 1896).