Born at about 450 B.C., Aristophanes was a young man when the Peloponnesian war was fought between Athens and Sparta. When Aristophanes was born, Athens was at its most glorious, both culturally and politically. Little is known of Aristophanes, except that his father, who was from Athens, may have been a property owner. The theme of war and women’s efforts to invoke love as a replacement for war works as well in the twenty first century as they did in the late fifth century B.C. It has inspired an opera, Lysistrata and the War, which was written in the early 1960s and first performed by the Wayne State University opera workshop, as a protest to the Vietnam War. In 1930, Lysistrata enjoyed a successful revival in New York City, which lasted for several months. There is no record that Aristophanes received any awards for Lysistrata, but the play’s popularity in modern productions points to its probable success on stage. With the failure of men, women are the only remaining hope for peace. Aristophanes uses a woman to bring peace, but in doing so, he is pointing out to men that they have failed in their efforts to settle the war. She reminds the audiences of the many men who have died during the Peloponnesian War, and the Chorus of Old Men emphasizes that there are no young men to take up their position. However, there are also serious ideas to be found in Lysistrata’s speeches. The idea that Lysistrata could unite women to end the war would have set up the audience for a traditional battle between the sexes. At the time of the play’s initial production, Athens and Sparta had been at war for twenty years, and this play would have offered one of the few opportunities to laugh at war.
Comedies were very popular presentations during the Greek festivals, and there is no reason to think that Lysistrata was not immensely popular. Modern audiences enjoy the sexuality and humor in Aristophanes’ work, and they enjoy what appears as modern feminism and the depiction of strong women.
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Alan H.Lysistrata is often produced in contemporary theatre. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged. In Lysistrata and The Acharnians, two pleas for an end to the long war between Athens and Sparta, a band of women on a sex strike and a lone peasant respectively defeat the political establishment. Writing at a time of political and social crisis in Athens, the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes was an eloquent, yet bawdy, challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. 'We women have the salvation of Greece in our hands'
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