Aristophanes · c. 446-386 BC
Lysistrata
ΛυσιστράτηRead our guide to Lysistrata. Lysistrata was produced at the Lenaea of 411 BC, in the twenty-first year of the war between Athens and Sparta. The Athenian Lysistrata gathers the women of Greece, binds them by an oath to refuse their husbands until peace is made, and seizes the Acropolis and its treasury while the old men of the city try to burn them out. The sections follow the play's dramatic units and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.
Contents · 11 passages
- 1–76bPrologue: Lysistrata waits for the women659 words
- 77–180Prologue: Lampito arrives; the plan to abstain893 words
- 181–253Prologue: the oath over the wine-cup590 words
- 254–386Parodos: the old men with fire, the women with water1341 words
- 387–613Episode: the Magistrate confronts Lysistrata2681 words
- 614–705Parabasis: the two choruses quarrel795 words
- 706–828Episode: the women try to desert; Melanion and Timon922 words
- 829–1013Episode: Myrrhine teases Cinesias; the Spartan herald1646 words
- 1014–1071Choral interlude: the two choruses make friends547 words
- 1072–1188bEpisode: Spartan and Athenian envoys make peace993 words
- 1189–1320Exodos: the feast and the closing songs921 words
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English translation by Benjamin Bickley Rogers (1924). Original text: Greek text: F. W. Hall and W. M. Geldart (eds.), Aristophanis Comoediae, Oxford Classical Texts, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906-1907, as digitised by Perseus. English: Benjamin Bickley Rogers, Aristophanes, vol. III, Loeb Classical Library, London: William Heinemann, and New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1924.
Greek text and translation from the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, Greek: CC BY-SA 4.0 (Perseus Digital Library); translation public domain (Rogers). Introductions, summaries and notes © GreekMythology.com.
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