Thesmophoriazusae
Encyclopedia
Thesmophoriazusae is one of eleven surviving plays by the master of Old Comedy, the Athenian playwright Aristophanes
. It was first produced in 411 BC
, probably at the City Dionysia. How it fared in that festival's drama competition is unknown but it is now considered one of Aristophanes' most brilliant parodies of Athenian society, with a particular focus on the subversive role of women in a male-dominated society, the vanity of contemporary poets, such as the tragic playwrights Euripides
and Agathon
, and the shameless, enterprising vulgarity of an ordinary Athenian, as represented in this play by the protagonist, Mnesilochus. The play is also notable for Aristophanes' free adaptation of key structural elements of Old Comedy and for the absence of the anti-populist and anti-war comments that pepper his earlier work. It was produced in the same year as Lysistrata
, another play with a sexual theme.
This bold statement by Euripides
is the absurd premise upon which the whole play depends. The women are incensed by his plays' portrayal of the female sex as mad, murderous, and sexually depraved, and they are using the festival of the Thesmophoria
(an annual fertility
celebration dedicated to Demeter
) as an opportunity to debate a suitable choice of revenge.
Fearful of their powers, Euripides seeks out a fellow tragedian, Agathon
, in the hope of persuading him to spy for him and to be his advocate at the festival - a role that would require him of course to go disguised as a woman. Agathon is exaggeratedly effeminate, but because he believes that the women of Athens are jealous of him, he refuses to attend the festival for fear of being discovered. Euripides' aged in-law (never named within the play but recorded in the 'dramatis personae' as Mnesilochus) then offers to go in Agathon's place. Euripides shaves him, dresses him in women's clothes borrowed from Agathon and finally sends him off to the Thesmophorion, the venue of the women's secret rites.
There, the women are discovered behaving like citizens of a democracy, conducting an assembly much as men do, with appointed officials and carefully maintained records and procedures. Top of the agenda for that day is Euripides. Two women - Micca and a myrtle vendor - summarize their grievances against him. According to Micca, Euripides has taught men not to trust women, this has made them more vigilant and that in turn makes it impossible for women to help themselves to the household stores. According to the myrtle vendor, his plays promote atheism and this makes it difficult for her to sell her myrtle wreathes. Mnesilochus then speaks up, declaring that the behaviour of women is in fact far worse than Euripides has represented it. He recites in excruciating detail his own (imaginary) sins as a married woman, including a sexual escapade with a boyfriend in a tryst involving a laurel tree and a statue of Apollo.
The assembly is outraged but order is restored when a female messenger is seen approaching. It turns out to be Cleisthenes, a notoriously effete homosexual, represented in this play as the Athenian 'ambassador' for women. He has come with the alarming news that a man disguised as a woman is spying upon them on behalf of Euripides! Suspicion immediately falls upon Mnesilochus, being the only member of the group that nobody can identify. After they remove his clothes, they discover that he is indeed a man. In a parody of a famous scene from Euripides' 'Telephus', Mnesilochus grabs Micca's baby and threatens to kill it unless the women release him. After closer inspection, however, Mnesilochus discovers that the 'baby' is in fact a wine skin fitted with booties. Undeterred, he still threatens it with a knife. Micca (a devout tippler) pleads for its release but the assembly will not negotiate with Mnesilochus and he stabs the baby anyway. Micca catches its precious blood in a pan.
At this point, the action pauses briefly for a parabasis. Meanwhile the male authorities are notified of the illegal presence of a man at a women-only festival. Mnesilochus is subsequently arrested and strapped to a plank by a Thracian archer (Athenian equivalent of a policeman) on the orders of a prytanis. There then follows a series of farcical scenes in which Euripides, in a desperate attempt to rescue Mnesilochus, comes and goes in various disguises, first as Menelaus
, a character from his own play Helen
- to which Mnesilochus responds of course by playing out the role of Helen - and then as Perseus
, a character from another Euripidean play, Andromeda
, in which role he swoops heroically across the stage on a theatrical crane (frequently used by Greek playwrights to allow for a deus ex machina
) - to which Mnesilochus of course responds by acting out the role of Andromeda. Improbably, Euripides impersonates Echo
in the same scene as he impersonates Perseus. All these mad schemes of course fail.
The tragic poet then decides to appear as himself and in this capacity he quickly negotiates a peace with the Chorus of women, securing their co-operation with a promise not to insult them in his future plays. The women decline to help him release Mnesilochus (now a prisoner of the Athenian state) but they do agree not to interfere with plans for his escape. Disguised finally as an old lady and attended by a dancing girl and flute player, Euripides distracts the Scythian Archer long enough to set Mnesilochus free. The Scythian attempts to apprehend them before they can get clean away but he is steered in the wrong direction by the Chorus and the comedy ends happily.
or City Dionysia. Significant dates and events that might have impacted on the writing of 'Thesmophoriazusae' (411 BCE) would include:
Literary traditions and fashions, and the poets identified with them, are subject to comment and parody in all of Aristophanes' plays. In this play, Euripides
is of course the main target. Others:
). However, tragic and comic 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. Micca's wine-skin baby is obviously a demonstration of the irrational and subversive nature of women but so also is the female assembly - it represents a state within the Athenian state and its assumed jurisdiction over Euripides is in fact illegal. The sexual role-reversals can be understood to have a broad, political significance. The warrior ethos of an older generation versus the effete intellectualism of a younger generation is a debate or agon that recurs in various forms throughout the plays of Aristophanes. In The Frogs
, for example, the agon is between Aeschylus
, who values Homer
for the warrior ethos he inculcates in his audience, and Euripides
who values the intellectual and philosophical quibbling of a legalistic society. The agon in The Frogs is won by Aeschylus and he is brought back from the dead to reform the polis with his instructive poetry. In Thesmophoriazusae the Chorus of women makes the point that they are better than their men because they have preserved their heritage (as represented by the weaving shuttle, the wool-basket and the parasol) whereas the men have lost their spears and shields. The loss of the shield is expressed by the Chorus metaphorically and contemptuously as 'the parasol is thrown away' (erriptai to skiadeion), a reference to the word 'rhipsaspis' (shield-thrower), a derogatory term whose use was considered in Athens to be actionable slander. Thus the message behind the sexual role-reversals in Thesmophoriazusae is not that women are equal to men but rather that the present generation of men is behaving no better than the women (the same message is delivered in Lysistrata
). The stupidity of the war with Sparta, the criminal motives behind it and the desire for peace are major themes in Aristophanes' earlier plays. There is almost no mention of The Peloponnesian War in this play yet the peace that Euripides very easily negotiates with the women at the end of the play (after all his combative schemes have failed) could be interpreted as a pro-peace message.
. In Thesmophoriazusae, variations from Old Comedy conventions include:
Aristophanes
Aristophanes , son of Philippus, of the deme Cydathenaus, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete...
. It was first produced in 411 BC
411 BC
Year 411 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Mugillanus and Rutilus...
, probably at the City Dionysia. How it fared in that festival's drama competition is unknown but it is now considered one of Aristophanes' most brilliant parodies of Athenian society, with a particular focus on the subversive role of women in a male-dominated society, the vanity of contemporary poets, such as the tragic playwrights Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
and Agathon
Agathon
Agathon was an Athenian tragic poet whose works, up to the present moment, have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in . He is also a prominent character in...
, and the shameless, enterprising vulgarity of an ordinary Athenian, as represented in this play by the protagonist, Mnesilochus. The play is also notable for Aristophanes' free adaptation of key structural elements of Old Comedy and for the absence of the anti-populist and anti-war comments that pepper his earlier work. It was produced in the same year as Lysistrata
Lysistrata
Lysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by 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...
, another play with a sexual theme.
Thesmophoriazusae - the plot
- Today the women at the festival
- Are going to kill me for insulting them!
This bold statement by Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
is the absurd premise upon which the whole play depends. The women are incensed by his plays' portrayal of the female sex as mad, murderous, and sexually depraved, and they are using the festival of the Thesmophoria
Thesmophoria
Thesmophoria was a festival held in Greek cities, in honor of the goddesses Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The name derives from thesmoi, or laws by which men must work the land. The Thesmophoria were the most widespread festivals and the main expression of the cult of Demeter, aside from the...
(an annual fertility
Fertility
Fertility is the natural capability of producing offsprings. As a measure, "fertility rate" is the number of children born per couple, person or population. Fertility differs from fecundity, which is defined as the potential for reproduction...
celebration dedicated to Demeter
Demeter
In Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons . Her common surnames are Sito as the giver of food or corn/grain and Thesmophoros as a mark of the civilized existence of agricultural society...
) as an opportunity to debate a suitable choice of revenge.
Fearful of their powers, Euripides seeks out a fellow tragedian, Agathon
Agathon
Agathon was an Athenian tragic poet whose works, up to the present moment, have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in . He is also a prominent character in...
, in the hope of persuading him to spy for him and to be his advocate at the festival - a role that would require him of course to go disguised as a woman. Agathon is exaggeratedly effeminate, but because he believes that the women of Athens are jealous of him, he refuses to attend the festival for fear of being discovered. Euripides' aged in-law (never named within the play but recorded in the 'dramatis personae' as Mnesilochus) then offers to go in Agathon's place. Euripides shaves him, dresses him in women's clothes borrowed from Agathon and finally sends him off to the Thesmophorion, the venue of the women's secret rites.
There, the women are discovered behaving like citizens of a democracy, conducting an assembly much as men do, with appointed officials and carefully maintained records and procedures. Top of the agenda for that day is Euripides. Two women - Micca and a myrtle vendor - summarize their grievances against him. According to Micca, Euripides has taught men not to trust women, this has made them more vigilant and that in turn makes it impossible for women to help themselves to the household stores. According to the myrtle vendor, his plays promote atheism and this makes it difficult for her to sell her myrtle wreathes. Mnesilochus then speaks up, declaring that the behaviour of women is in fact far worse than Euripides has represented it. He recites in excruciating detail his own (imaginary) sins as a married woman, including a sexual escapade with a boyfriend in a tryst involving a laurel tree and a statue of Apollo.
The assembly is outraged but order is restored when a female messenger is seen approaching. It turns out to be Cleisthenes, a notoriously effete homosexual, represented in this play as the Athenian 'ambassador' for women. He has come with the alarming news that a man disguised as a woman is spying upon them on behalf of Euripides! Suspicion immediately falls upon Mnesilochus, being the only member of the group that nobody can identify. After they remove his clothes, they discover that he is indeed a man. In a parody of a famous scene from Euripides' 'Telephus', Mnesilochus grabs Micca's baby and threatens to kill it unless the women release him. After closer inspection, however, Mnesilochus discovers that the 'baby' is in fact a wine skin fitted with booties. Undeterred, he still threatens it with a knife. Micca (a devout tippler) pleads for its release but the assembly will not negotiate with Mnesilochus and he stabs the baby anyway. Micca catches its precious blood in a pan.
At this point, the action pauses briefly for a parabasis. Meanwhile the male authorities are notified of the illegal presence of a man at a women-only festival. Mnesilochus is subsequently arrested and strapped to a plank by a Thracian archer (Athenian equivalent of a policeman) on the orders of a prytanis. There then follows a series of farcical scenes in which Euripides, in a desperate attempt to rescue Mnesilochus, comes and goes in various disguises, first as Menelaus
Menelaus
Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...
, a character from his own play Helen
Helen (play)
Helen is a drama by Euripides, probably first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia. The play shares much in common with another of Euripides' works, Iphigenia in Tauris.-Background:...
- to which Mnesilochus responds of course by playing out the role of Helen - and then as Perseus
Perseus
Perseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...
, a character from another Euripidean play, Andromeda
Andromeda (mythology)
Andromeda is a princess from Greek mythology who, as divine punishment for her mother's bragging, the Boast of Cassiopeia, was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to a sea monster. She was saved from death by Perseus, her future husband. Her name is the Latinized form of the Greek Ἀνδρομέδη...
, in which role he swoops heroically across the stage on a theatrical crane (frequently used by Greek playwrights to allow for a deus ex machina
Deus ex machina
A deus ex machina is a plot device whereby a seemingly inextricable problem is suddenly and abruptly solved with the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability, or object.-Linguistic considerations:...
) - to which Mnesilochus of course responds by acting out the role of Andromeda. Improbably, Euripides impersonates Echo
Echo (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Ekho , "echo", itself from ἦχος , "sound") was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt...
in the same scene as he impersonates Perseus. All these mad schemes of course fail.
The tragic poet then decides to appear as himself and in this capacity he quickly negotiates a peace with the Chorus of women, securing their co-operation with a promise not to insult them in his future plays. The women decline to help him release Mnesilochus (now a prisoner of the Athenian state) but they do agree not to interfere with plans for his escape. Disguised finally as an old lady and attended by a dancing girl and flute player, Euripides distracts the Scythian Archer long enough to set Mnesilochus free. The Scythian attempts to apprehend them before they can get clean away but he is steered in the wrong direction by the Chorus and the comedy ends happily.
Historical background
Old Comedy is a highly topical genre and all Aristophanes' plays were written specifically for their original productions at either the LenaiaLenaia
The Lenaia was an annual festival with a dramatic competition. It was one of the lesser festivals of Athens and Ionia in ancient Greece. The Lenaia took place in Athens in the month of Gamelion, roughly corresponding to January. The festival was in honour of Dionysos Lenaios...
or City Dionysia. Significant dates and events that might have impacted on the writing of 'Thesmophoriazusae' (411 BCE) would include:
- 425 BCE: Aristophanes won first prize at the Lenaia with his third play The AcharniansThe AcharniansThe Acharnians is the third play - and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays - by the great Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BCE on behalf of the young dramatist by an associate, Callistratus, and it won first place at the Lenaia festival...
. In that play, the character Euripides lends the protagonist, Dicaiopolis, some theatrical costumes from his plays. In 'Thesmophoria', on the other hand, the character Euripides dresses Mnesilochus in a costume borrowed from AgathonAgathonAgathon was an Athenian tragic poet whose works, up to the present moment, have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in . He is also a prominent character in...
. - 415 BCE: Euripides' play 'Palamedes' was produced. It is parodied in 'Thesmophoria'.
- 413 BCE: The Athenians and their allies suffered a catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian ExpeditionSicilian ExpeditionThe Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian expedition to Sicily from 415 BC to 413 BC, during the Peloponnesian War. The expedition was hampered from the outset by uncertainty in its purpose and command structure—political maneuvering in Athens swelled a lightweight force of twenty ships into a...
, a turning-point in the long-running Peloponnesian War. Among those who died in the Sicilian campaign was LamachusLamachusLamachus was an Athenian general in the Peloponnesian War. He commanded as early as 435 BCE, and was prominent by the mid 420s. Aristophanes caricatured him in The Acharnians and subsequently honoured his memory in The Frogs...
, satirized in The AcharniansThe AcharniansThe Acharnians is the third play - and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays - by the great Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BCE on behalf of the young dramatist by an associate, Callistratus, and it won first place at the Lenaia festival...
as a maniacal war-monger. In 'Thesmophoriazusae' he is mentioned briefly but with respect as a war hero whose mother deserves to be publicly feted. - 412 BCE: Euripides' plays 'HelenHelen (play)Helen is a drama by Euripides, probably first produced in 412 BC for the Dionysia. The play shares much in common with another of Euripides' works, Iphigenia in Tauris.-Background:...
' and 'AndromedaAndromeda (play)Andromeda is a lost tragedy written by Euripides, based on the myth of Andromeda and first produced in 412 BC.-Fragment:What is this steep shore, washed round about by the sea foam, that I see? And there is the statue of a girl, wrought out of the actual shape of the rock, the work of a skilled...
' were produced. Both plays are parodied at length in 'Thesmophoriazusae'. - 411 BCE: Both 'Thesmophoriazusae' and LysistrataLysistrataLysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by 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...
were produced; an oligarchic revolutionAthenian coup of 411 BCThe Athenian coup of 411 BC was a revolutionary movement during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta that overthrew the democratic government of ancient Athens by replacing it with a short-lived oligarchy known as The Four Hundred....
(one of the consequences of the Sicilian disaster) proved briefly successful and the populist Hyperbolus (a frequent target of the earlier plays) was assassinated by oligarchic conspirators in SamosSamošSamoš is a village in Serbia. It is situated in the Kovačica municipality, in the South Banat District, Vojvodina province. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbering 1,247 people .-See also:...
. Hyperbolus receives a brief, derogatory mention in 'Thesmophoriazusae' as someone whose mother does not deserve to share a table with the honoured mother of Lamachus.
Literary traditions and fashions, and the poets identified with them, are subject to comment and parody in all of Aristophanes' plays. In this play, Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
is of course the main target. Others:
- AgathonAgathonAgathon was an Athenian tragic poet whose works, up to the present moment, have been lost. He is best known for his appearance in Plato's Symposium, which describes the banquet given to celebrate his obtaining a prize for his first tragedy at the Lenaia in . He is also a prominent character in...
: A contemporary of Aristophanes and a successful tragedian, he is represented in this play as a clownish aesthete who believes that beautiful people write beautifully. - Phrynicus: A celebrated tragedian of an older generation (early 5th Century), he is mentioned favourably by Agathon as a beautiful man (kalos) who dressed beautifully and who wrote beautiful plays (kal' dramata).
- IbycusIbycusIbycus , was an Ancient Greek lyric poet, a citizen of Rhegium in Magna Graecia, probably active at Samos during the reign of the tyrant Polycrates and numbered by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria in the canonical list of nine lyric poets...
, AnacreonAnacreonAnacreon was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets.- Life :...
and Alcaeus: 6th Century lyrical poets, mentioned favourably by Agathon as examples of poets who dressed and behaved as effetely as himself. - Philocles, XenoclesXenoclesXenocles or Zenocles was an Ancient Greek tragedian.There were two Athenian tragic poets of this name, one the grandfather of the other...
, and Theognis: Dramatic poets and contemporaries of Aristophanes, frequently lampooned in other plays, they receive a derogatory though brief mention here too.
Discussion
The play is notable for its reversal of sexual stereotypes, where men dress as women and the women appear to be the equal of men, particularly in their imitation of the ecclesia or democratic assembly (in fact the herald's opening of the women's assembly with a paean-like cry has been taken as evidence that the ecclesia itself might have begun with a paeanPaean
A paean is a song or lyric poem expressing triumph or thanksgiving. In classical antiquity, it is usually performed by a chorus, but some examples seem intended for an individual voice...
). However, tragic and comic 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. Micca's wine-skin baby is obviously a demonstration of the irrational and subversive nature of women but so also is the female assembly - it represents a state within the Athenian state and its assumed jurisdiction over Euripides is in fact illegal. The sexual role-reversals can be understood to have a broad, political significance. The warrior ethos of an older generation versus the effete intellectualism of a younger generation is a debate or agon that recurs in various forms throughout the plays of Aristophanes. In The Frogs
The Frogs
The Frogs is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus, in 405 BC, and received first place.-Plot:...
, for example, the agon is between Aeschylus
Aeschylus
Aeschylus was the first of the three ancient Greek tragedians whose work has survived, the others being Sophocles and Euripides, and is often described as the father of tragedy. His name derives from the Greek word aiskhos , meaning "shame"...
, who values Homer
Homer
In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...
for the warrior ethos he inculcates in his audience, and Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
who values the intellectual and philosophical quibbling of a legalistic society. The agon in The Frogs is won by Aeschylus and he is brought back from the dead to reform the polis with his instructive poetry. In Thesmophoriazusae the Chorus of women makes the point that they are better than their men because they have preserved their heritage (as represented by the weaving shuttle, the wool-basket and the parasol) whereas the men have lost their spears and shields. The loss of the shield is expressed by the Chorus metaphorically and contemptuously as 'the parasol is thrown away' (erriptai to skiadeion), a reference to the word 'rhipsaspis' (shield-thrower), a derogatory term whose use was considered in Athens to be actionable slander. Thus the message behind the sexual role-reversals in Thesmophoriazusae is not that women are equal to men but rather that the present generation of men is behaving no better than the women (the same message is delivered in Lysistrata
Lysistrata
Lysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by 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...
). The stupidity of the war with Sparta, the criminal motives behind it and the desire for peace are major themes in Aristophanes' earlier plays. There is almost no mention of The Peloponnesian War in this play yet the peace that Euripides very easily negotiates with the women at the end of the play (after all his combative schemes have failed) could be interpreted as a pro-peace message.
Thesmophoriazusae and Old Comedy
Aristophanes observed the conventions of Old Comedy in his earlier plays and gradually abandoned them in favour of a simpler approach, a trend that was continued by other dramatists until it reached its fulfilment in the New Comedy of MenanderMenander
Menander , Greek dramatist, the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy, was the son of well-to-do parents; his father Diopeithes is identified by some with the Athenian general and governor of the Thracian Chersonese known from the speech of Demosthenes De Chersoneso...
. In Thesmophoriazusae, variations from Old Comedy conventions include:
- Parodos: In Old Comedy, the parodos or entry of the Chorus was an important element in the entertainment, accomplished with music, dance and extravagant spectacle. In this play, there are two Choruses - one appears briefly while accompanying Agathon in a song outside his house, and later the Chorus proper enters the stage as the women of the festival. The Women enter quietly, performing devotional tasks in which Mnesilochus, disguised as a woman, participates. This quiet entry is uncharacteristic of a parodos. The doubling of the Chorus is a phenomenon that is repeated in The FrogsThe FrogsThe Frogs is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus, in 405 BC, and received first place.-Plot:...
, where the Chorus briefly assumes the identity of frogs before it takes on its main role as The Blessed. In LysistrataLysistrataLysistrata is one of eleven surviving plays written by 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...
, produced at the same time as Thesmophoriazusae, there are also two choruses (Old Men and Old Women) but they appear on stage together after entering separately. - Parabasis: A parabasis is when the Chorus directly addresses the audience. Typically there are two parabases in a play and, during the first, the Chorus speaks out of character, acting as a mouthpiece for the author. In Thesmophoria however the Chorus never speaks out of character, the first parabasis is shortened and there is no second parabasis.
- Agon: A debate or argument between protagonist and antagonist is another important element in Old Comedy. Usually it is conducted in long verses of anapests divided into two symmetrical sections (epirrhema and antepirrhema) and the protagonist is triumphant, as for example in The KnightsThe KnightsThe Knights was the fourth play written by Aristophanes, the master of an ancient form of drama known as Old Comedy. The play is a satire on the social and political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War and in this respect it is typical of all the dramatist's early plays...
, The CloudsThe CloudsThe Clouds is a comedy written by the celebrated playwright Aristophanes lampooning intellectual fashions in classical Athens. It was originally produced at the City Dionysia in 423 BC and it was not well received, coming last of the three plays competing at the festival that year. It was revised...
and The WaspsThe WaspsThe Wasps is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes, the master of an ancient genre of drama called 'Old Comedy'. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, a time when Athens was enjoying a brief respite from The Peloponnesian War following a one...
. In Thesmophoriazusae, there is no such agon. There is a formal debate between Mnesilochus and Mica but it is conducted in shorter lines of ordinary dialogue (iambic trimeterIambic trimeteriambic trimeter is a meter of poetry consisting of three iambic units per line.In ancient Greek poetry, iambic trimeter is a quantitative meter, in which a line consisted of three iambic metra and each metron consisted of two iambi...
). It has something of the symmetrical structure typical of a conventional agon, with a long speech (by Mica), a long reply (by Mnesilochus) and a pair of symmetrical songs from the Chorus, but a small speech by a third party (the myrtle vendor) is inserted in the middle, along with another song, and this disturbs the symmetry. Unlike a conventional agon, the debate doesn't produce a victor and it is followed by a heated argument in long, iambic verses between Mnesilochus and Mica. - Concluding episodes: In Old Comedy, dramatic tension is sacrificed quite early in the play with the protagonist's victory in the agon and thereafter the action is simply a celebration or affirmation of that victory in a loose series of farcical episodes in which "unwanted visitors" are driven off. In this play tension is maintained until the very end, when Euripides negotiates a peace and Mnesilochus is released from his bonds, yet the play is still typical of an Old Comedy in its introduction of 'unwanted visitors' in the latter part of the play - here they include Menelaus, Perseus and Echo i.e. Euripides disguized as characters from his own plays. This use of the 'unwanted visitors' convention is anticipated in The KnightsThe KnightsThe Knights was the fourth play written by Aristophanes, the master of an ancient form of drama known as Old Comedy. The play is a satire on the social and political life of classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War and in this respect it is typical of all the dramatist's early plays...
, where Paphlagonian (i.e. Cleon) is defeated by the protagonist in a variety of roles. - Exodos: Old Comedy conventionally ends with a celebration of the protagonist's victory and it features a sexual conquest, as represented for example by the flute girl in The WaspsThe WaspsThe Wasps is the fourth in chronological order of the eleven surviving plays by Aristophanes, the master of an ancient genre of drama called 'Old Comedy'. It was produced at the Lenaia festival in 422 BC, a time when Athens was enjoying a brief respite from The Peloponnesian War following a one...
and the Muse of Euripides in The FrogsThe FrogsThe Frogs is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus, in 405 BC, and received first place.-Plot:...
. In Thesmophoriazusae, female entertainment is supplied by a dancing girl but it is not the protagonist who wins her favours - that pleasure falls into the lap of the Scythian archer. Euripides and Mnesilochus are too busy making good their escape to have time for a proper exodus (a joke that would not have been lost on the original audience).
Standard edition (in Greek)
The standard critical edition of the Attic Greek language text of the play (with commentary) is:- Colin Austin and S. Douglas Olson, Aristophanes Thesmophorizusae (Oxford University Press, 2004) ISBN 978-0-19-955383-9
Translations
- Arthur S. Way, 1934 - verse
- Eugene O'Neill, Jr, 1938 - prose: full text
- Dudley FittsDudley FittsDudley Fitts was an American teacher, critic, poet, andtranslator. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and attended Harvard University where he edited the Harvard Advocate. He taught at The Choate School 1926-1941 and at Phillips Academy at Andover 1941-1968...
, 1959 - prose and verse - David Barrett, 1964 - prose and verse
- Alan H. Sommerstein, 1994 - prose ISBN 978-0-85668-559-0
- unknown translator - prose: full text
- George Theodoridis, 2007 prose, full text http://bacchicstage.wordpress.com/