Lysistrata
Sign in to saveAlso known as The Revolt of the Women, Aristoph. Lys.
Lysistrata ( or ; Attic Greek: , Lysistrátē, ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, first staged in early 411 BCE at Lenaea festival in classical Athens. The play is a comic account of a woman's – Lysistrata's – mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying sex from all the men of warring parties and occupying the Acropolis of Athens. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to engage in a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace – a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes.
Key facts
- Play.name
- Lysistrata
- Play.image
- Lysistrata.jpg
- Play.caption
- Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley, 1896Dramatis Personae in ancient comedy depend on scholars' interpretation of textual evidence. This list is based on Alan Sommerstein's 1973 translation.
- Play.writer
- Aristophanes
- Play.setting
- Before the Propylaea, or gateway to the Acropolis of Athens, 411 BC
via Wikipedia infobox
~20 min read
Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Plot
- Historical background
- Writing conventions
- Influence and legacy
- English translations
- See also
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Lysistrata ( or ; Attic Greek: , Lysistrátē, ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, first staged in early 411 BCE at Lenaea festival in classical Athens. The play is a comic account of a woman's – Lysistrata's – mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying sex from all the men of warring parties and occupying the Acropolis of Athens. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to engage in a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace – a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes.
The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. Its structure represents a shift from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career. It was produced in the same year as the Thesmophoriazusae, another play with female citizen protagonists, just two years after Athens's defeat in the Sicilian Expedition.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Lysistrata” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.