Lysistrata: A modern paraphrase from the Greek of Aristophanes

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"Lysistrata" by Laurence Housman and Aristophanes is a comedic play (a modern paraphrase of a Classical Greek comedy) written in the early 20th century. It lampoons war and male politics as the Athenian woman Lysistrata leads a coalition of Greek women to withhold sex and seize public funds to compel peace. Central figures include the indomitable Lysistrata, her witty neighbor Calonice, the playful Myrrhina, and the strong Spartan Lampito. The result is a bawdy, fast-talking antiwar satire powered by sharp gender reversals.

The opening of the play shows Lysistrata, before dawn, rallying Athenian, Spartan, Bœotian, and Corinthian women to end Greece’s civil strife by swearing a wine-soaked oath to abstain from sex and by occupying the Acropolis treasury. The women outwit a chorus of old men who come with torches to burn them out, dousing them with pitchers and humiliating officials and policemen; Lysistrata then argues that women can “weave” civic order better than men can fight it into being. A choral interlude gives the women a militant voice while Lysistrata privately worries about deserters, yet the plan’s leverage is proven when Myrrhina tantalizes her husband Cinesias with meticulous preparations only to deny him until he agrees to peace. By the time a Spartan herald arrives seeking negotiations—because men everywhere are undone by the strike—the stage is set for comic standoffs and bargaining born from the women’s bold occupation.