Unlike the famous Greek tragedians who came before him, Aristophanes took a very unique approach to writing plays. First, he chose to write comedies instead of tragedies in the hope that his audience would be more inclined to institute change in society after laughing at the absurdity of a given situation rather than through the moralizing or shaming that tragedies sometimes deliver. Second, and somewhat overlooked, is that Aristophanes’ plays were wholly original. The tragedians used well-known myths or characters from a bygone era (the Trojan War, a popular source of inspiration, took place several hundred years before the Big 3 of Aesychlus, Sophocles, and Euripides were born). However, Aristophanes created stories, plots, and characters from scratch, taking as his themes problems he saw in present day Athens.

Lysistrata (411 B.C.) is a play chock full of ribaldry. Double entendres and sexual innuendos abound, yet at its heart is a strong anti-war message. Aristophanes no doubt meant for his fellow Athenians to view this play as a commentary on the futility of the Peloponnesian War being waged against Sparta, a prolonged and unpopular war then in its 21st year. Unlike Aristophanes’ previous plays, the Chorus here is limited to only a few stanzas and does not appeal to the judges to award a prize to this play. The saucy dialogue and an unconventional female as the lead character provide for the entertainment, but comedy aside, Aristophanes is trying to drive home a point. That Aristophanes could write and produce such a play for the public in time of war shows how freethinking the Athenians were.

Lysistrata is a mature woman who is fed up with war. She calls an assembly of the Athenian women and an envoy of Spartan women, all of whom share her disgust and heartache for war. She tells the women that she has a plan to bring peace to both cities. Namely, that the women are to refrain from having sex with their husbands and lovers. Naturally, this does not go over well with the women, for they enjoy sex just as much as the men. However, Lysistrata convinces them that they all must make this sacrifice if they want to bring an end to the war.

The Spartan women find this proposal acceptable, but want assurance that Lysistrata is not trying to trick them. So she unveils a two-prong strategy. In addition to withholding sex from the men, the women will also seize and occupy the Acropolis, where the city’s money is stored. In that way, the men would no longer be able to finance the war.

Without sex or money to continue the war, the men are like eunuchs, utterly powerless. In effect, the women have stated that the two main sources of finance for war, children (who will grow up to be soldiers) and gold (to buy materials for ships and weapons), are now cut off. In modern slang, her proposal would affect the men in both sides of their pants.

A group of old women lead the capture of the Acropolis. In the first of a series of amusing interludes, they are confronted by a group of old men intent on putting a stop to their nonsense. In their speech, the old men represent the traditional customs where the men were in charge of daily affairs and the women kept silent. In their actions, they represent soldiers fighting the same tired, old battles. Of course, the old women win these “little wars” by proving themselves to be not only physically superior but also to be in possession of the sharper minds.

A city magistrate is summoned to investigate the women’s strange behaviour. Lysistrata and a group of women come out of the Acropolis to meet him. War, the magistrate says, is the business of men, and women should stay out of what doesn’t concern them. Here Lysistrata counters that statement by making an impassioned plea to put an end to the war. She laments that mothers give birth to sons only to have them carted off to fight in some distant land, while their brides grow old alone. All women, young and old, suffer as a result.

A second plea comes in the way of a reminder that before this current war Athens and Sparta were allies and helped each other out on numerous occasions. In this way, Aristophanes boldly shows how war destroys everything, tearing apart society and family alike.

Of course, the magistrate dismisses Lysistrata’s reasoning as the simple worries of a woman. At this point, the women overpower the magistrate and dress him as a woman so that he can better see their point of view. Lysistrata claims that from now on, war shall be the business of women. Furthermore, since they are in control of the city’s treasury, they shall also be in charge of the city’s budget. Unable to make the magistrate change his mind, the women next dress him as a corpse and send him away, symbolizing that his way of thinking is dead.

The uproarious comic aspect of the play revolves around some very funny scenes about abstaining from sex. After several days holed up in the Acropolis, several women try to sneak out, couching their reasons for leaving in terms of household chores. One woman mentions she has some wool that needs to be spread and laid; another woman has some flax that must be stripped and flayed. Lysistrata admonishes the women for their lack of restraint, then says she consulted an oracle that told her if the women hold strong, they will end up on top. The women, taking this to mean they will assume the top position in sex, willingly agree to stay.

The men are in worse shape. A Spartan ambassador who arrived in Athens to negotiate peace is mistakenly accused of concealing a lance under his tunic. Meanwhile one of the soldiers, Cinesias, begs for his wife Myrrhine to come home. Lysistrata instructs Myrrhine to inflame her husband’s desire but under no circumstance give in to him. Upon seeing his wife, Cinesias wants to lie with her in the middle of the road, and his condition sets up the most hilarious scene in the play as Myrrhine coyly teases him then leaves him blue-balled.

With both sides eager for sex, men’s reasons (or lack thereof) for going to war must give way to the flesh, so that both sides can satisfy themselves and, more importantly, have peace. As befits a comedy, the ending is a happy one with the women winning the day.

Because of its message and a ready-made comedic plot, Lysistrata is probably Aristophanes’ most popular play. The action is easy to follow and the characters’ motives remain consistent. The play gets revived from time to time; one in recent memory was in 2003 when The Lysistrata Project organized staging the play throughout the world as a way of protesting the United States’ invasion of Iraq. It is testament to Aristophanes’ genius that plays he created in his head over 2400 years ago still remain vital and, unfortunately, relevant.


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