12/8 Western Literature Week 13

Aristophanes:

(/ˌærᵻˈstɒfəniːz/ or /ˌɛrᵻˈstɒfəniːz/;^[2] Greek: Ἀριστοφάνης, pronounced [aristopʰánɛːs]; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion (Latin: Cydathenaeum),^[3] was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete. These, together with fragments of some of his other plays, provide the only real examples of a genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy, and are used to define it.

Many of Aristophane's rollicking comedies were written for and performed during the religious festivals Dionysia and Lenea. The Acharnians (425) was one of many to win him first prize. The Knights (424), with Aristophanes himself acting as Cleon, is a controversial and unapologetic attack of the demagogue Cleon. The Clouds (423) critical of the Sophists, contains the famous scene of the Just and the Unjust argument, the cloud-maidens representative of metaphysical meanderings. It was followed by Peace (421).

Lysistrata:

(/laɪˈsɪstrətə/ or /ˌlɪsəˈstrɑːtə/; Attic Greek: Λυσιστράτη, "Army Disbander") is a comedy 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. 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, however, that inflames the battle between the sexes. The play is notable for being an early exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society. Additionally, its dramatic structure represents a shift from the conventions of Old Comedy, a trend typical of the author's career.^[2] It was produced in the same year as the Thesmophoriazusae, another play with a focus on gender-based issues, just two years after Athens' catastrophic defeat in the Sicilian Expedition.