Lysistrata

There are a lot of things about us women

That sadden me, considering how men

See us as rascals.

—Lysistrata



As indeed we are!

—Calonice




Aristophanes' Lysistrata is the timeless comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end the Peloponnesian War. 


Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace: a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes.


ARISTOPHANES (c. 445-386 BC) was a satirical playwright of ancient Athens. He had his first play produced when he was twenty-one, and wrote some forty plays in all. Little is known about his personal life, but he was twice threatened with prosecution in the 420s for his outspoken attacks on prominent politicians. In 405 however, his fortunes improved, and he was publicly honored for promoting Athenian unity in The Frogs. Lysistrata is generally recognized as one of Aristophanes' greatest masterworks, along with The Birds, for its imaginative plot and clever lyrics.