Lysistrata
Aristophanes411 BCEAristophanes wrote a comedy where the women of Greece refuse sex until the men stop fighting, and it has been the go-to anti-war satire for 2,400 years.
Read this if you…
- want the original sex strike (the ladies refuse men sex)
- want the most famous Greek comedy play
- want to see a comedian's anti-war material
- like real dirty/sexual humor
Skip this if you…
- find the plot point of women refusing men sex off-putting
Why It Matters
Aristophanes wrote a comedy where the women of Greece refuse sex until the men stop fighting, and it has been the go-to anti-war satire for 2,400 years. It proved comedy could take on deadly serious politics without losing the jokes. The play has been adapted and restaged in pretty much every major conflict since.
The 
Take
Crazy to see the ancient Greeks loving super low brow humor. Very funny concept. And damn, Aristophanes really loves peace I guess
Where to go next
- The Iliad by Homer. Lysistrata built on it. - When Lysistrata recalls her husband telling her "war shall be the business of menfolk," she's echoing Hector's farewell to Andromache in *Iliad* 6 - Aristophanes takes Homer's most famous statement of separate spheres and detonates it — the women make war their business and end it - Knowing the original line lands the joke: he's quoting the canon to overturn it
Depicted in Art
Greek soldier and woman face off in stylised art-deco line, mid-scene from the sex-strike.
Charles-Émile Carlègle, 1928
Lysistrata stands frontally in flowing robes, brandishing a spear, having seized the Acropolis from the men of Athens.
Aubrey Beardsley, 1896
A Spartan herald arrives at Athens visibly aroused under his cloak; a magistrate examines him with a staff, both in profile.
Aubrey Beardsley, 1896
Two Spartan ambassadors arrive in profile with prominent erections under their tunics, sent to sue for peace after the sex-strike has worked.
Aubrey Beardsley, 1896
Recommended Editions
Alan H. Sommerstein
Penguin Classics · 2003
Sommerstein in Penguin's Lysistrata and Other Plays. The jokes mostly land in English, and the introductions cover the Peloponnesian War context you'd otherwise be googling on the way through.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“We women have the salvation of Greece in our hands.”
“There is no beast so fierce as a woman scorned, no fire so hot, and no leopard so untameable.”
More by Aristophanes
- The Acharnians
425 BCE · Comedy
- The Clouds
423 BCE · Comedy
- Wasps
422 BCE · Comedy
- Peace
421 BCE · Comedy
- The Birds
414 BCE · Comedy
- The Frogs
405 BCE · Comedy