Lysistrata Essay

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Recommended: History of the peloponnesian war influence

In this paper I will be looking at Greek culture during the Peloponnesian war, focusing on the Lysistrata -- an old style comedic play written by Aristophanes in 411 BC which deals with the topics surrounding the Peloponnesian War. This play was written shortly after the Sicilian Expedition in which the Greeks were beaten miserably by the Sicilians. Alcibiades had lead them into battle, believing that Sicily would bring wealth and territory for Athens (Peruzzi, 11/20/2015, Slides 7&13).
It isn’t hard to see why some Athenians had negative feelings about the war after being beaten by a country whose army was significantly smaller and less funded than their own (Peruzzi, 11/20/2015, Slide 27). From this play, we learn about Aristophanes’ perspective …show more content…

In passage six, Lysistrata was waiting, showing that men in Athens saw women as being lazy or unable to arrive on time. While waiting, passage two shows Lysistrata ranting over if she had called an orgy, the women would not have been late– implying that the men of Athens believed women to be obsessed with sex. This idea is further shown in passage three when the ladies at the meeting all immediately withdraw their support for Lysistrata’s plan when she explains that they won’t be allowed to have sex. Kleonike also makes a comment in passage four about glamor being a woman’s only talent when she spoke privately with Lysistrata which shows the view that the only thing that a woman is good for is to sit around the house, look beautiful, and that they were only concerned with pretty …show more content…

From Lysistrata, we learn more about women were viewed in Athens. Athenian men thought they were lazy, obsessed with sex and only concerned with pretty things. We also see how lowly Athenian men viewed women in how self-deprecating they are throughout the play. We learn about how Athenians viewed people from other cities as well. Athenians saw themselves as the pinnacle of what a city should be. They believed they were the most “cultured” and most advanced city in Greece. They also believed Spartans to be backwards and uncultured, we see evidence of this in how Lampito is portrayed. We also learn that during the early fourth century, the Athenians were looking forward to the end of the war and were tired of fighting through how quickly the seemingly unresolvable conflicts are solved when the men are denied

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