Lysistrata Annotated

Lysistrata Aristophanes - Greek playwright, Aristophanes, lived during the 5th and 4th century BC and is considered one of the principal authors of the Greek classical period. Of the nearly thirty plays he wrote during his career, eleven are extant. Amongst the most famous of these is Lysistrata, a comedy which focuses on the women of Greece whose husbands have left for the Peloponnesian War. The women do not care about the conflict as much as they care about missing their husbands. Its titular character, Lysistrata, insists that men rarely listen to womens reasoning and exclude their opinions on matters of state. In retaliation she convinces the women of Greece to organize a strike, refusing to have sex with their husbands until both sides agree to cease fighting. The irony of this is that the men become more upset with their wives than they do with their enemies of war. Notable for its positive portrayal of womens rationality in a male-dominated society, Lysistrata stands as one the most popular and frequently performed plays from classical antiquity

Lysistrata is the greatest work by Aristophanes. This blank and rash statement is made that it may be rejected. But first let it be understood that I do not mean it is a better written work than the Birds or the Frogs, or that (to descend to the scale of values that will be naturally imputed to me) it has any more appeal to the collectors of "curious literature" than the Ecclesiazusae or the Thesmophoriazusae. On the mere grounds of taste I can see an at least equally good case made out for the Birds. That brightly plumaged fantasy has an aerial wit and colour all its own.

This classic comedy — from the 5th century BC — concerns the vow of Greek women to withhold sex from their husbands until the men agree to end the disastrous wars between Athens and Sparta. An exuberant battle of the sexes with underlying anti-war theme.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Peace" by Aristophanes. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

The Acharnians/The Clouds/Lysistrata 'We women have the salvation of Greece in our hands' Writing at a time of political and social crisis in Athens, the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes was an eloquent, yet bawdy, challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. In Lysistrata and The Acharnians, two pleas for an end to the long war between Athens and Sparta, a band of women on a sex strike and a lone peasant respectively defeat the political establishment. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Alan H. Sommerstein

Considered the Greek playwright’s greatest work: “A bawdy antiwar comedy [about] one woman’s extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War” (Classical Literature). First presented in 411 BC, Lysistrata is one of the great works from the classical age of drama. It is the third and concluding play in Aristophanes’s War and Peace series and portrays a humorous battle of the sexes. In the twenty-first year of the Peloponnesian War, desperate times call for desperate measures. Angry at being ignored in matters of state and tired of missing their husbands, the women of Athens—led by Lysistrata—refuse to have sex with their men until they put down their weapons. “The reason for its enduring appeal is simple: sex and politics. The eponymous heroine and her militant sisterhood take two actions to make their men stop fighting: first, they stage a sex strike—the withdrawal of sexual favors until peace is declared; second, they occupy the Acropolis, freezing the funds necessary to keep the war going . . . Lysistrata has a serious story to tell. But like all good comedies, it knows when to stop taking itself too seriously.” —Blake Morrison, The Guardian

Lysistrata is one of the few surviving plays written by Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace — a strategy, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. The dramatic structure represents a shift away from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career. It was produced in the same year as Thesmophoriazusae, another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens' catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition.

"Acharnians" is the earliest of the existent comedies of Aristophanes, produced in 425 BCE. It is a direct attack on the folly of war. The story deals with an Athenian farmer, Dikaiopolis, who surprisingly obtains a private peace treaty with the Spartans and enjoys the benefits of peace despite resistance from some of his fellow Athenians. This drama is celebrated for its absurd humor and its innovative appeal for an end to the Peloponnesian War.