SexViolHist Bib: Representations: Literature: Aristophanes

»Aristophanes (/ˌærɪˈstɒfəniːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἀριστοφάνης [aristopʰánɛːs]; c. 446 – c. 386 BC) was an Ancient Greek comic playwright from Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving plays belong to the genre of comic drama known as Old Comedy and are considered its most valuable examples. Aristophanes' plays were performed at the religious festivals of Athens, mostly the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, and several of them won the first prize in their respective competitions.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

The Acharnians (Ἀχαρνεῖς)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»The Acharnians or Acharnians (Ancient Greek: Ἀχαρνεῖς Akharneîs; Attic: Ἀχαρνῆς) is the third play — and the earliest of the eleven surviving plays — by the Athenian playwright Aristophanes. It was produced in 425 BC on behalf of the young dramatist by an associate, Callistratus, and it won first place at the Lenaia festival.
The Acharnians is about an Athenian citizen, Dikaiopolis, who miraculously obtains a private peace treaty with the Spartans and enjoys the benefits of peace in spite of opposition from some of his fellow Athenians. The play is notable for its absurd humour, its imaginative appeal for an end to the Peloponnesian War, and for the author's spirited response to condemnations of his previous play, The Babylonians, by politicians such as Cleon, who had reviled it as a slander against the Athenian polis. In The Acharnians, Aristophanes reveals his resolve not to yield to attempts at political intimidation.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Ancient History: Ancient Greece

II. Geographical Index: European History: Greek History

III. Topical Index: Cases: Fictional Victims: Thraitta | Types: General: Rape | Representations: Literary Texts: Comedies

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Gartland, Samuel. »War, Territory, Sexual Violence and Citizenship in Aristophanes.« Aristophanes and the Current Moment: The Politics. London 2025.

[Info] Robson, James. »Fantastic sex: Fantasies of sexual assault in Aristophanes.« Sex in Antiquity: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in the Ancient World. Edited Mark Masterson et al. New York 2015.

II. Speaker Index

Assemblywomen (Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Assemblywomen (Ancient Greek: Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklesiazousai; also translated as, Congresswomen, Women in Parliament, Women in Power, and A Parliament of Women) is a comedy written by the Greek playwright Aristophanes in 391 BC. The play invents a scenario where the women of Athens assume control of the government and institute reforms that ban private wealth and enforce sexual equity for the old and unattractive. In addition to Aristophanes' political and social satire, Assemblywomen derives its comedy through sexual and scatological humor. The play aimed to criticize the Athenian government's expropriation of land and wealth at the time.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Ancient History: Ancient Greece

II. Geographical Index: European History: Greek History

III. Topical Index: Types: General: Rape | Society: Rape Culture: Rape Jokes | Representations: Literary Texts: Comedies

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Swallow, Peter. »Sexual Violence and Aristophanic Humour.« Aristophanic Humour: Theory and Practice. Edited by Peter Swallow et al. London 2020: 167-182.

II. Speaker Index

The Birds (Ὄρνιθες)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»The Birds (Ancient Greek: Ὄρνιθες, romanized: Órnithes) is a comedy by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed in 414 BC at the City Dionysia in Athens where it won second place. It has been acclaimed by modern critics as a perfectly realized fantasy remarkable for its mimicry of birds and for the gaiety of its songs. Unlike the author's other early plays, it includes no direct mention of the Peloponnesian War and there are few references to Athenian politics, and yet it was staged not long after the commencement of the Sicilian Expedition, an ambitious military campaign that greatly increased Athenian commitment to the war effort. In spite of that, the play has many indirect references to Athenian political and social life. It is the longest of Aristophanes's surviving plays and yet it is a fairly conventional example of Old Comedy.
The plot of the play revolves around Pisthetaerus, an Athenian who convinces the birds to create a great city in the sky, and thus regain their status as the original gods. Pisthetaerus eventually transforms into a bird-like god himself, and replaces Zeus as the king of the gods.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

I. Chronological Index: Ancient History: Ancient Greece

II. Geographical Index: European History: Greek History

III. Topical Index: Types: General: Sexual Assault | Representations: Literary Texts: Comedies

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

II. Speaker Index

Lysistrata (Εἰρήνη)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Lysistrata (/laɪˈsɪstrətə/ or /ˌlɪsəˈstrɑːtə/; Attic Greek: Λυσιστράτη, Lysistrátē, lit. 'army disbander') is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city states by denying all the men of the land any sex, which was said to be the only thing they truly and deeply desired. Lysistrata persuades the women of the warring cities to engage in a sex strike as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace – a strategy that inflames the battle between the sexes.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

II. Speaker Index

Peace (Εἰρήνη)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Peace (Ancient Greek: Εἰρήνη Eirḗnē) is an Athenian Old Comedy written and produced by the Greek playwright Aristophanes. It won second prize at the City Dionysia where it was staged just a few days before the validation of Peace of Nicias, which promised to end the ten-year-old Peloponnesian War, in 421 BC. The play is notable for its joyous anticipation of peace and for its celebration of a return to an idyllic life in the countryside. However, it also sounds a note of caution, there is bitterness in the acknowledgment of lost opportunities, and the ending is not happy for everyone. As in all of Aristophanes' plays, the jokes are numerous, the action is wildly absurd and the satire is savage. Cleon, the pro-war populist leader of Athens, is once again a target of the author's wit, even though he had died in the Battle of Amphipolis just a few months earlier.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

II. Speaker Index

Thesmophoriazusae (Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι)

I n f o r m a t i o n

»Thesmophoriazusae (Ancient Greek: Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι; Thesmophoriazousai, lit. 'women celebrating the festival of the Thesmophoria'), or Women at the Thesmophoria (sometimes also called The Poet and the Women), is one of eleven surviving comedy plays by Aristophanes. It was first produced in 411 BC, probably at the City Dionysia. The play's focuses include 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 work 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 sexual themes.« (Extract from: Wikipedia)

K e y w o r d s

B i b l i o g r a p h y

I. Author Index

[Info] Swallow, Peter. »Sexual Violence and Aristophanic Humour.« Aristophanic Humour: Theory and Practice. Edited by Peter Swallow et al. London 2020: 167-182.

II. Speaker Index