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Lysistrata
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Lysistrata (Attic Greek:, loosely translated as 'She who disbands armies') is one of the few surviving plays written by the master of Old Comedy, Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace, a strategy however that inflames the battle between the sexes.
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Lysistrata (Attic Greek:, loosely translated as 'She who disbands armies') is one of the few surviving plays written by the master of Old Comedy, Aristophanes. Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace, a strategy however that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for its exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society and for its use of both double entendre and explicit obscenities. The dramatic structure represents a shift away from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career. It was produced in the same year as Thesmophoriazusae, another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens' catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition.
Plot
Lys.: There are a lot of things about us women
That sadden me, considering how men
See us as rascals. Cal.: As indeed we are!
These lines, spoken by Lysistrata and her friend Calonice at the beginning of the play, set the scene for the action that follows. Women, as represented by Calonice, are sly hedonists in need of firm guidance and direction. Lysistrata however is an extraordinary woman with a large sense of individual responsibility. She has convened a meeting of women from various city states in Greece (there is no mention of how she managed this feat) and, very soon after confiding in her friend about her concerns for the female sex, the women begin arriving. With support from Lampito, the Spartan, Lysistrata persuades the other women to withhold sexual privileges from their menfolk as a means of forcing them to end the interminable Peloponnesian War. The women are very reluctant but the deal is sealed with a solemn oath around a wine bowl, Lysistrata choosing the words and Calonice repeating them on behalf of the other women. It is a long and detailed oath, in which the women abjure all their sexual pleasures, including The Lioness and The Cheese Grater (a sexual position). Soon after the oath is finished, 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 long continue to fund their war. 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, intent on burning down the gate of the Acropolis if the women don't open up. Encumbered with heavy timbers, inconvenienced with smoke and burdened with old age, they are still making preparations to assault the gate when a Chorus of Old Women arrives, bearing pitchers of water. The Old Women complain about the difficulty they had getting the water but they are ready for a fight in defense of their younger comrades. Threats are exchanged, water beats fire and the Old Men are discomforted with a soaking. The magistrate then arrives with some Scythian archers (the Athenian version of police constables). He reflects on the hysterical nature of women, their devotion to wine, promiscuous sex and exotic cults (such as to Sabazius and Adonis) but above all he blames men for poor supervision of their womenfolk. He is a member of The Committee of Ten and he has come for silver from the state treasury to buy oars for the fleet. He instructs his Scythians to begin levering open the gate but the women open it before any damage is done. Lysistrata is arrested for unruly behaviour. Some of her companions are also arrested for unruly behaviour. Groups of unruly women with unruly names - (seedmarketporridgevegetablesellers) and (garlicinnkeepingbreadsellers) - continue to emerge from the Acropolis, soon overwhelming the magistrate and his Scythian guards. Lysistrata recalls her forces. Order is restored. The magistrate, now under virtual arrest, is allowed to question his captor.
Under questioning, Lysistrata reveals some of the frustrations she, as an Athenian wife, feels at a time of war, when the men make stupid decisions that effect everyone and a woman is not supposed to have an opinion. Her own husband has told her to shut up, she says, because war is supposed to be a man's business. She drapes her headress over the magistrate, gives him a basket of wool and tells him that war will be a woman's business from now on. The magistrate is incensed. Lysistrata however continues to do almost all the talking and she explains the pity she feels for young, childless women, ageing at home while the men are away on endless campaigns. When the magistrate points out that men also age, she reminds him that men can marry at any age whereas a woman has only a short time before she is considered too old. She then dresses the magistrate like a corpse for laying out, with a wreathe and a fillet, and advises him that he's dead. Outraged, he storms off to report these indignities to his colleagues and Lysistrata returns to the Acropolis. The debate or agon is then continued between the Chorus of Old Men and the Chorus of Old Woman, with threats and counter-threats, until Lysistrata emerges again, this time with alarming news - her comrades are desperate for sex and they are beginning to desert on the flimsiest pretexts (one woman says she wants to go home to air her fabrics by spreading them on the bed). Lysistrata however rallies her comrades once more, discipline is restored and they return to the Acropolis to continue waiting for the men's surrender.
A man soon appears, desperate for sex. It is Cinesias, the husband of Myrrhine. He is carrying a burden that he wants to share with his wife and he is followed by their infant son cradled in the arms of a household slave. The baby is meant to lure Myrrhine outside the gate but she goes willingly anyway, being under instruction from Lysistrata to torture the already sex-starved father. Myrrhine informs Cinesias that she can't have sex with him until he stops the war. He promptly agrees to these absurd terms, the child is sent home and the young couple prepares for sex on the spot. Myrrinhe fetches a bed then a mattress then a pillow then a blanket then a flask of oil, exasperating her husband with delays until finally disappointing him completely by locking herself in the Acropolis again. The Chorus of Old Men commiserates with the young man in a plaintive song. A Spartan herald then appears with a large burden of his own scarcely hidden inside his tunic and he requests to see the ruling council to arrange peace talks. The magistrate, by this time also sporting a prodigious burden, laughs at the herald's embarrassing situation but agrees that peace talks should begin. They go off to fetch their envoys and, while they are gone, the Old Women begin to make overtures to the Old Men. The Old Men are content to be comforted and fussed over by the Old Women and thereupon the two Choruses merge, singing and dancing in unison. The Spartan envoys soon arrive and so too does a delegation of Athenians. Lysistrata also appears again, now leading a gorgeous young woman called Reconciliation. The delegates cannot take their eyes off Reconciliation and meanwhile Lysistrata scolds both sides for past errors of judgement. 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. Another choral song follows and, after a bit of humorous dialogue between drunken dinner guests, the celebrants all return to the stage for a final round of songs, the men and women dancing together.
Historical background
Some events that are significant for our understanding of the play:
- 424 BCE: The Knights won first prize at the Lenaia. Its protagonist, a sausage-seller named Agoracritus, emerges at the end of the play as the improbable saviour of Athens (Lysistrata is its saviour thirteen years later).
- 421 BCE: Peace was produced. Its protagonist, Trygaeus, emerges as the improbable champion of universal peace (Lysistrata's role ten years later). The Peace of Nicias was formalised this same year, ending the first half of the Peloponnesian War (referred to in Lysistrata as 'The Former War').
- 413 BCE: The Athenians and their allies suffered a catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition, a turning-point in the long-running Peloponnesian War.
- 411 BCE: Both Thesmophoriazusae and Lysistrata were produced; an oligarchic revolution (one of the consequences of the Sicilian disaster) proved briefly successful.
Old Comedy was a highly topical genre and the playwright expected his audience to be familiar with local identities and issues. The following list of identities mentioned in the play gives some indication of the difficulty faced by any producer trying to stage Lysistrata for modern audiences.
- Korybantes:Devotees of the Asiatic goddess Cybele - Lysistrata says that Athenian men resemble them when they do their shopping in full armour, a habit she and the other women deplore.
- Hermokopidae: Vandals who mutilated the herms in Athens at the onset of the Sicilian Expedition, they are mentioned in the play as a reason why the peace delegates should not remove their cloaks, in case they too are vandalized.
- Hippias: An Athenian tyrant, he receives two mentions in the play, as a sample of the kind of tyranny that the Old Men can 'smell' in the revolt by the women and secondly in connection with a good service that the Spartans once rendered Athens (they removed him from power by force)
- Aristogeiton:A famous tyrannicide, he is mentioned briefly here with approval by the Old Men.
- Cimon: An Athenian commander, mentioned here by Lysistrata in connection with the Spartan king Pericleides who had once requested and obtained Athenian help in putting down a revolt by helots.
- Myronides:An Athenian general in the 450s, he is mentioned by the Old Men as a good example of a hairy guy, together with Phormio, the Athenian admiral who swept the Spartans from the sea between 430 BCE and 428 BCE.
- Peisander:An Athenian aristocrat and oligarch, he is mentioned here by Lysistrata as typical of a corrupt politician exploiting the war for personal gain. He was previously mentioned in Peace and The Birds
- Demostratus: An Athenian who proposed and carried the motion in support of the Sicilian Expedition, he is mentioned briefly by the magistrate.
- Cleisthenes: A notoriously effete homosexual and the butt of many jokes in Old Comedy, he receives two mentions here, firstly as a suspected mediator between the Spartans and the Athenian women and secondly as someone that sex-starved Athenian men are beginning to consider a viable proposition.
- Theogenes: A nouveau riche politician, he is mentioned here as the husband of a woman who is expected to attend the meeting called by Lysistrata. He is lampooned earlier in The Wasps,Peace and The Birds.
- Lycon:A minor politician who afterwards figured significantly in the trial of Socrates , he is mentioned here merely as the husband of a woman that the Old Men have a particular dislike for (he is mentioned also in The Wasps).
- Cleomenes I: A Spartan king, who is mentioned by the Old Men in connection with the heroism of ordinary Athenians in resisting Spartan interference in their politics.
- Leonidas:The famous Spartan king who led a Greek force against the Persians at Thermopylae, he is mentioned by the Spartan envoys in association with the Athenian victory against the Persian fleet at the Battle of Artemisium.
- Artemisia: A female ruler of Ionia, famous for her participation in the naval Battle of Salamis, she is mentioned by the Old Men with awe as a kind of Amazon.
- Homer: The epic poet is quoted in a circuitous manner when Lysistrata quotes her husband who quotes from a speech by Hector in the Iliad as he farewells his wife before going to battle: "War will be men's business."
- Aeschylus: the tragic poet is mentioned briefly as the source of a ferocious oath that Lysistrata proposes to her comrades, in which a shield is to be filled with blood; the oath is found in Seven Against Thebes.
- Euripides: the dramatic poet receives two brief mentions here, in each case by the Old Men with approval as a misogynist.
- Pherecrates: a contemporary comic poet, he is quoted by Lysistrata as the author of the saying: "to skin a flayed dog."
- Bupalus: A sculptor who is known to have made a caricature of the satirist Hipponax he is mentioned here briefly by the Old Men in reference to their own desire to assault rebellious women.
- Micon: An artist, he is mentioned briefly by the Old Men in reference to Amazons (because he depicted a battle between Theseus and Amazons on the Painted Stoa).
- Timon:The legendary misanthrope, he is mentioned here with approval by the Old Women in response to the Old Men's favourable mention of Melanion, a legendary misogynist
- Orsilochus and Pellene: An Athenian pimp and a prostitute, mentioned briefly to illustrate sexual desire. Pellene is mentioned earlier in The Birds.
Discussion
As indicated below (Influence and legacy) modern adaptations of Lysistrata are often femininist and/or pacifist in their aim. The original play however was neither feminist nor unreservedly pacifist. Dramatic poets in classical Athens reinforced sexual stereotyping even when they seemed to demonstrate empathy with the female condition and women typically were considered to be irrational creatures in need of protection from themselves and from others. Thus Lysistrata must protect women from their own worst instincts before she can accomplish her primary mission to end the Peloponnesian War - she has to persuade them to forego sexual activity, even binding them with an oath, and later she must rally them with an oracle when they show signs of wavering. By the end of the play, however, she has demonstrated an extraordinary power over men also - even the leaders of Greece are submissive once caught in her magic (iuggi). Her role as an improbable saviour of Athens is anticipated in The Knights, where the protagonist is an obscure sausage vendor, Agoracritus. Some points of resemblance:
- a)Lysistrata uses an oracle to manipulate women, Agoracritus uses oracles to manipulate Demos (the people);
- b)Lysistrata presents the Athenian and Spartan envoys with the beautiful Reconciliation (Diallage), Agoracritus presents Demos with the beautiful Treaties (Spondai);
- c)Lysistrata appears to have extraordinary powers (possibly magical powers), Agoracritus emerges as an agent of divine intervention, not only inspired by the gods but also able to be thought of as a god himself.
There are also some parallels between Lysistrata and Aristophanes' third play, The Acharnians. Dikaiopolis, the protagonist of The Acharnians, obtains a peace treaty with the Spartans after assistance from a demi-god, Amphitheus, who claims to be the great-great-grandson of Triptolemus and Demeter. The treaty however is a private treaty since it absurdly excludes all Athenians who are not members of the protagonist's household. Never the less Reconciliation (Diallage) makes an appearance in that play also and her beauty is celebrated by the Chorus of old Acharnians in a song full of sexual innuendo.
In another play, Peace, the goddess Peace is invoked as Lysimache ('She Who Undoes Battle) and her beautiful companion, State Delegation (Theoria), is offered up to the Athenian Boule as a virtual prostitute. In Lysistrata, Reconciliation is displayed to the Athenian and Spartan envoys as if she too were a prostitute, a parallel that suggests that Lysistrata can be identified symbolically with the goddess, Peace. Any such symbolism however cannot obscure her role as a housewife. According to her own admission, she accepted the men's conduct of the 'former war' out of female respect for male authority until it became obvious that there were no real men in Athens who could bring an end to the destruction and waste of young lives.
The play is not an attempt to promote universal peace - Lysistrata chides the Athenian and Spartan envoys for allying themselves with barbarians.
Lysistrata and Old Comedy
Lysistrata belongs to the middle period of Aristophanes' career and it features the conventional elements of Old Comedy, often with new adaptations. The Chorus begins this play divided against itself (Old Men versus Old Women) and its unification later exemplifies the major theme of the play - reconciliation. There is nothing quite like this use of a Chorus in the other plays. The nearest example is in The Acharnians, where the Chorus of Old Acharnians briefly divides into factions for and against the protagonist. A doubling of the role of the Chorus occurs also in The Frogs and Thesmophoriazusae but in each of those plays the two Choruses appear consecutively and not simultaneously.
The parabasis is an important, conventional element in Old Comedy. There is no parabasis proper in Lysistrata however. Most plays have a second parabasis near the end and there is something like a parabasis in that position in this play but it only comprises two songs (strophe and antistrophe) and these are separated by an episodic scene of dialogue. In these two songs, the now united Chorus declares that it is not prepared to speak ill of anyone on this occasion because the current situation (ta parakeimena) is already bad enough - a topical reference to the catastrophic end to the Sicilian Expedition. In keeping however with the victim-centred approach of Old Comedy, the Chorus then teases the entire audience with false generosity, offering gifts that are not in its power to give.
The Roman orator Quintilian considered Old Comedy a good genre for study by students of rhetoric. The plays of Aristophanes in fact contain formal disputes or agons that are constructed for rhetorical effect. Lysistrata's debate with the magistrate is a good example. This particular agon however is unusual in that one character (Lysistrata) does almost all the talking while the antagonist (the magistrate) merely asks questions or expresses indignation. Like most agons, it is structured symmetrically in two sections, each half comprising long verses of anapests that are introduced by a choral song and that end in a pnigos. In the first half of the agon, Lysistrata quotes from Homer's Iliad ("war will be men's business"), then quotes 'the man in the street' ("Isn't there a man in the country?" - "No, by God, there isn't!") and finally arrives at the only logical conclusion to these premises: "War will be women's business!" The logic of this conclusion is supported rhythmically by the pnigos, a device that ratchets up the momentum by shortening the lines, sometimes known as a 'choker'. During this pnigos, Lysistrata and her friends dress the magistrate like a woman, with a veil and a basket of wool, reinforcing her argument and lending it ironic point - if the men are women, obviously the war can only be women's business. In the pnigos of the second section, the magistrate is dressed like a corpse, highlighting the argument that war is a living death for women.
The protagonist's victory in the agon early in the play is typical of Old Comedy. The rest of the play conventionally features the comings and goings of a succession of minor characters in a series of farcical scenes and it concludes with a conventionally elaborate exodos during which the victory is celebrated in song and dance.
Influence and Legacy
- 1946: The play was performed in New York with an all-black cast, including Etta Moten Barnett. It had particular resonance after a war in which many African Americans had served their nation in the armed forces, but had to deal with a segregated army and few opportunities for officers' commissions. In addition, veterans returned to legal segregation and near disfranchisement in the South, as well as more subtle but definite de facto segregation in many northern cities.
- Student Bob Fink composed music for an opera version of the play, to be performed at Detroit's Wayne State University. The director canceled the play when the tenor was drafted into the army four days before the performance. He was worried about the anti-Vietnam war aspects of the libretto, and used the tenor's draft notice as an excuse to perform the opera in a small room with a new unrehearsed tenor. Fink regarded that action as unacceptable censorship and withdrew the opera.
- 1976: Ludo Mich adapted the play for a film in which all the actors and actresses were naked throughout.
- 2004: A 100-person show called Lysistrata 100 was performed in Brooklyn, New York. Edward Einhorn wrote the adaptation, which was performed in a former warehouse converted to a pub. The play was set at the Dionysia, much as the original may have been.
In summer of the same year, Jason Tyne's adaptation set in present-day New York City was premiered in Central Park. Lucy and her fellow New Yorkers Cleo and Cookie called all of the wives, girlfriends, and lovers of the men controlling the most powerful countries to engage the women in a sex boycott to bring the men into line.
- 2006 (September): a group of gangsters' wives and girlfriends in the town of Pereira, Colombia, declared a sex strike to force their partners to participate in a disarmament program.
- 2007: James Thomas directed the play for PBS as part of a series on "Female Power & Democracy", which explored how female participation in civic life was moving from comedy to reality.
Translations
- 1912, published by the Athenian Society, London; unknown translator rumored to be Oscar Wilde. Lysistrata
- 1924, Benjamin B. Rogers, verse
- 1925, Jack Lindsay, verse
- 1934, Arthur S. Way, verse
- 1944, Charles T. Murphy, prose and verse
- 1954, Dudley Fitts, prose and verse
- 1961, Donald Sutherland, prose and verse
- 1963, Douglass Parker, verse
- 1972 Germaine Greer, prose
- 1988, Jeffrey Henderson verse
- 1991, Nicholas Rudall
- 2000, George Theodoridis, prose
- 2003, Sarah Ruden
- 2004, Paul Roche, verse and prose
- 2005, Edward Einhorn, prose and verse
- 2003/06, Chris Tilley, musical version with prose and songs
- Jack Lindsay, Perseus Project
- Anonymous translator, prose
External links
- as adapted by Edward Einhorn.
- .
- with illustrations by Aubrey Beardsley.
- - updated from the ancient Greek play (ISBN 0-912424-07-9).
- - an original rock opera.
- - Chris Tilley's musical version.
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