A comic Utopia: Lysistrata

The real Athens of 411 is in the middle of a losing war. The Peace of Nikias made in 421 had long ago crumbled. In the summer of 413, Athens suffers a disastrous campaign to Syracuse, and loses mass amount of men and ships. In light of this loss, in the winter of that year, the formerly neutral states of Greece decide to join in with Sparta. To make matters worse, the allies under the

oppression of the Athenian Empire also takes this opportunity to revolt. According to Thucydides, by 412, many expected the war to end in 412 with the defeat of Athens because Athens had lost its naval superiority. Although the Athenians put on a heroic effort to keep control of Samos, the outlook for Athens is dismal. Even if Athens is able to negotiate a peace at this point, they would certainly be receiving a peace on unjust terms, something that is no doubt unacceptable to many Athenians.

In fact the difficulties themselves are self inflicted and absurd. When the women take over the Acropolis and control the treasury, the old men of the chorus are eager to drive them out. The Persian invasion and destruction of the Acropolis is easily recalled through this scene. The old men also make a reference to how they had expelled the Spartan King Kleomenes from the same place. The actual event actually took over a hundred years ago, and none of the old men would have actually been there, but the implication is clear. Once the men fought the Spartans, and the Persians, now they fight their own women. The preposterousness of this fighting help to highlight Aristophanes’ anti-war sentiments.

Lysistrata, like most of Aristophanes’ other plays are tightly tied to the political and social happenings of his days despite of the lack of parabasis. A year previous to the Lysistrata, there was a peculiar incident in Athens where all the Herms of the city were mutilated. The damage was extensive and none were spared. The vandalism took some planning and massive amount of manpower. There are suggestions that the women were behind the vandalism, and they used it as a way of protest against the war. If this is true, it would be interesting to ponder if Aristophanes' had any knowledge of the Herms incident and who was truly behind it and whether or not, that the incident might have influenced his play. If Aristophanes knew that women were behind the mutilation of the Herms, then the plot of Lysistrata would seem less improbable, making peace a closer goal than it would first appear.

Yet despite of the constant humorous sexual tension, Aristophanes reminds of the audience of the emotions behind the comedy. Every so often the bawdy comedy gives way to reality, and the plight of women as they loss their husbands and sons to war becomes real. When the Proboulos or Commissioner asks Lysistrata "What concern have you in war?"[4] She answers very truthfully, "Single beds. Bad enough for wives- but what about young girls, unmarried, doomed to die old maids."[5] The audience is reminded of the problems with young women who are unable to become wedded because by the time the men return from war, they are already too old to be married. Aristophanes is forcing the audience to acknowledge the disruptive nature of war to their entire social structure. Even though the sexual tensions undermine the seriousness of the situation, Aristophanes does show genuine sympathy towards women. He invites the men in his audience to consider,

Some topics in this essay:
Athens Herms, Athens Sparta, Unlike Aristophanes', Instead Lysistrata, Commissioner Lysistrata, Lysimakhe Lysistrata, Lysistrata Lysistrata's, Gilbert Norwood, Peace Nikias, Lysistrata Aristophanes, traditional religion, world lysistrata, women athens, athenian women, parabasis lysistrata, situation aristophanes, athens able, athenian spartan, title character, play lysistrata,