Aristophanes · c. 446-386 BC
Thesmophoriazusae
ΘεσμοφοριάζουσαιRead our guide to Women at the Thesmophoria. The Thesmophoriazusae, also known as Women at the Thesmophoria, was produced in 411 BC. The tragic poet Euripides learns that the women of Athens, gathered for the festival of Demeter, mean to condemn him to death for slandering them, and he persuades his elderly kinsman Mnesilochus to go in disguise as a woman to defend him. The play parodies Euripides' Telephus, Helen and Andromeda, and the sections follow its dramatic units and keep the standard line numbers of the Greek text.
Contents · 10 passages
- 1–100Prologue: Euripides and his kinsman at Agathon's door938 words
- 101–293Prologue: Agathon's house and the disguise1637 words
- 295–371Parodos: the Crieress opens the women's assembly482 words
- 373–530aEpisode: the women's assembly and the speech of Mnesilochus1271 words
- 531–687Episode: Cleisthenes exposes Mnesilochus1446 words
- 689–784Episode: the baby that is a wineskin (Telephus parody)894 words
- 785–845Parabasis: the women defend their sex671 words
- 846–1000Episode: the Helen parody and a choral hymn1290 words
- 1001–1135Episode: Andromeda and Echo1115 words
- 1136–1231Exodos: the bargain with the women and the rescue687 words
More by Aristophanes
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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