Lysistrata is one of the most well-known of the Greek comedies by Aristophanes, written in the spring of 411 BC - in the twentieth year of the Peloponnesian War. In the same year in Athens aristocrats overthrew the radical democratic government in a coup. Lysistrata is the third of Aristophanes' pacifist anti-warpieces, the story of a female sex-strike to force the men to stop running off to yet another war or battleground.
[Lysistrata, by Aubrey Beardsley (1896)]
The piece addresses the fact that men are the cause of
war and the suffering that goes with it, and the struggle of women against that. Lysistrata is an extraordinary woman with a large sense of
individual and social responsibility. She has convened a meeting of
women from various Greek city-states that are at war with each other. With support from the Spartan Lampito, Lysistrata persuades the other
women to sexually deny their husbands as a means of
forcing them to conclude the Peloponnesian War. The women are very
reluctant, for obvious reasons, but the deal is sealed with a solemn oath. Soon after that, a
cry of triumph is heard from the nearby Acropolis - the old women of
Athens have seized control of it at Lysistrata's instigation, since it
holds the state treasury, without which the men cannot continue to
fund their wars. Lampito goes off to spread the word of revolt, and the
other women retreat behind the barred gates of the Acropolis to await
the men's response.
A chorus of old men arrives, carrying heavy timbers, intent on burning down the gate of the
Acropolis if the women do not open up. From the other side, a chorus of old women arrives, bearing pitchers of water. Threats are exchanged, water beats
fire, and the old men get a soaking. The magistrate then arrives with Scythian Archers (the Athenian
version of police constables), blaming the men for poor
supervision of their womenfolk. He has come for silver from the state
treasury to buy oars for the fleet, but his Scythians are quickly overwhelmed by
groups of determined women.
Lysistrata explains the frustrations that women feel at a time of war when the
men make stupid decisions that affect everyone, without listening to the opinions of their wives. She drapes her headdress
over the magistrate, gives him a basket of wool and tells him that war will be a
woman's business from now on. Outraged at these indignities, he storms
off.
Now Lysistrata has to restore discipline among the women, for her comrades are themselves so desperate for sex that they are beginning to desert
on the silliest pretexts. But the condition of the husbands is even worse. The women play with them - enticing them and then again pushing them away.
A Spartan herald (in a very bad state) then appears requesting peace talks, and these indeed commence. Lysistrata introduces the Spartan and Athenian delegates to a gorgeous young woman called Reconciliation. The delegates cannot take their eyes off the young woman; meanwhile, Lysistrata scolds both sides for past errors of judgment. The delegates briefly squabble over the peace terms, but with Reconciliation before them and the burden of sexual deprivation still heavy upon them, they quickly overcome their differences and retire to the Acropolis for celebrations. The war is ended!
Over the centuries, Lysistrata has been frequently adapted: as a play (The Woman's Prize by John Fletcher, 1611); as a musical (The Greatest Sex, 1956; The Happiest Girl in the World,
1961); as an opera (by Mark Adamo, 2005); as an operetta (Paul Lincke,
1902); as ballet (1941), and it has inspired (sub-)plots of various
films.
Lysistrata is notable for being an early exposé of gender relations in a male-dominated society. It was produced in the same year as Women at the Thesmophoria, another play with a focus on the subversive role of women in a male-dominated society, just two years after Athens' catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition. And in Assembly Women of 391 BCE Aristophanes invented a scenario where the women of Athens assume control of the government and instate reforms that ban private wealth and enforce sexual equity for the old and unattractive. Modern adaptations of Lysistrata are often feminist and/or pacifist in their aim (although dramatic poets in classical Athens were neither unreservedly pacifist not feminist in the modern sense).
Finally a few words about Aristophanes (c. 446 – c. 386 BCE), who has been dubbed "The Father of Comedy." Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. Like the work of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, his plays were written for production at the great dramatic festivals of Athens, the Lenaia and City Dionysia, where they were judged and awarded prizes in competition with the works of other comic dramatists. His plays were highly political, addressing topical concerns by mentioning real individuals and local issues - "topicality" and "political theater" are the keywords here. The plays have a significance that goes beyond their artistic function, as historical documents that open the window on life and politics in classical Athens, in which respect they are perhaps as important as the writings of Thucydides. The artistic influence of the plays is immeasurable. They have greatly contributed to the history of European theater.
I have read Lysistrata in the translation by Stepehn Halliwell in Oxford World's Classics (Birds and Other Plays).
Online translation.
Illustration from Wikipedia, from which I have also borrowed some parts of the synopsis.
Greatest Plays of All Time