Lysistrata of Aristophanes
Aristophanes was a satirist who produced Lysistrata around 413 BC when the news ofAthen's warships had been destroyed near Sicily. For twenty-one years, while Athens wasengaged in war, he relentlessly and wittliy attacked the war, the ideals of the war, the war partyand the war spirit. This risked his acceptance and his Athenian citizenship. Lysistrata is probablythe oldest comedy which has retained a place in modern theatre. It primarily deals with twothemes, war and the power of sexuality.. Lysistrata (an invented name meaning, She Who Puts an End to War) has summoned thewomen of Athens to meet her at the foot of Acropolis. She puts before them the easy invitationthat they must never lie again with their husbands until the war is ended. At first, they shudderand withdraw and refuse until, with the help of the women from Sparta and Thebes, they areimpelled to agree. The women seize the Acropolis from which Athens is funding the war. Afterdays of sexually depriving their men in order to bring peace to there communities. They defeatback in an attack from the old men who had remained in Athens while the younger men are ontheir crusade. When their husbands retu
Others deal with the world as it is, glorifying it or justifying its flaws, discovering hiddenvalues in it and suggesting how they may be realized. The sex strike, portrayed in risque episodes, finally pressure the men of Athens andSparta to consent to a peace treaty. Athens kept its continentalterritories and allies, and Sparta kept all the territories acquired. Therefore, Lysistrata is defined as a woman who enters the world of the man andconquers it. Lysistrataemphasizes that women have the intelligence and judgment to make political decisions. By 425 BC,Sparta's hopes for victory were bleak, and its leaders were ready to ask for peace. The war takes men away, and by the time the men return, their women are old. The war had been going on for twenty-one years and itseemed to many that it might go on forever. An oligarchy overthrew the democracy in411 BC, and then was replaced by a moderate regime. Alcibiades in415 BC convinced the Athenians to attack the Greek city-states on the island of Sicily and bringthem under the rule of the Athenian Empire. He made a surprise attack on Athenian ships atAegospotami while the crews were dispersed on land. It was a collection of rival city-states thatwere allies with each other or with leading military powers.
Common topics in this essay:
Ancient Greece,
Lysistrata Lysistrata,
BC Athen's,
Amphipolis Athenian,
BC Athens,
Acropolis Athens,
Sparta's Lysander,
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Meanwhile Pericles',
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september 2000,
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431 bc,
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athenian women,
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peleponnesian war,
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