ARISTOPHANES. Aristophanes (445-386) By his time, the comic theater is already in an independent institution yet still very close to its origins Aristophanes’

ARISTOPHANES

Aristophanes (445-386)

• By his time, the comic theater is already in an independent institution yet still very close to its origins

• Aristophanes’ laughter bears traces of the instinctive aggression of iambic poetry.

• His comedy is a ritualized form of insult, rooted in the cults of Demeter and Dionysos.

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Carnival utopia

• Comedy envisions most fantastic scenarios:• Women may decide to govern the city (Ekklesiazousai)• Women can decide to go on sex strike (Lysistrata)• An individual citizen can decide to chose peace or war for

themselves (Acharnians)• People could decide to create a new city in the heaven (Birds)• One can travel to the underworld (Frogs)

No aspect of human life is spared

• Politicians are ridiculed mercilessly (Kleon, Perikles, Alkibiades, Lamachos)

• Philosophers are mocked as fools (Socrates)

• Gods are portrayed as grotesque figures (Zeus the Master of Thunder becomes “the master of Fart” Dionysos in the Frogs)

• There are no limits to obscenity or scatology

Lesson in humility

• All human actions are represented as deeply rooted in the lowest instincts.

• The action of the plays is frenetic and unpredictable.

• Its savage poetry is the very opposite of the monotonous rhythm of daily life.

• But it is far from pure enjoyment.

The City

• Concern for the welfare of his POLIS, the city-state dominates all comedies by Aristophanes.

• Sexual metaphors and obscenities are primarily a means for denouncing the degradation of political life.

The laughter that

• Aristophanes seeks to arouse is still deeply rooted in the festive humor.

• His carnival representations mock a world upside-down, thus reinforcing the pre-existing order.

• This type of laughter tends to be reactionary rather than revolutionary.

Lysistrata

Fantasy, utopia & political engagement

The historical background

• The Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta began in 431

• (following wars with Persia earlier in the 5th century)

• The main issue was the rivalry between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta



Outline of the Peloponnesian War

• The First ten Years (431-421)– End with Sparta’s surrender

• Peace of Nicias 421-414 (BCE)• Last Ten-Years of War

– Disaster in Sicily 415-413– Alcybiades’ plan to return

• 404: Athens surrenders

Sicilian Expedition

• The Athenians respond to a ‘request for help’ issued by the city of Segesta in Sicily at war with the city of Selinunt.

• This is an opportunity to gain influence in Sicily; they decide to attack (or ‘help’) the Sicilians.



Sicily

• Athenians at first defeat the Syracusans

• Spartans help Syracuse and declare war on Athens in 413

• In the same year the Athenian siege of Syracuse ends as their fleet is trapped in the harbor of this city and must surrender.



411 BCE

• Aristophanes fantasizes about of an honorable way of bringing war to an end.

• Lysistrata was first performed in Athens in probably during the Lenaia.

Illusion of similarity

• Among Aristophanes’ plays Lysistrata is most comprehensible to the modern reader/viewer, because of its preoccupation with sex.

• If the presentation of this topic is more explicit than what we usually expect on stage, we can still accept it and conclude with the soothing illusion that the ancient Greeks were not unlike ourselves.

PLOT

• Women go on strike and occupy the Acropolis• Old men try to defeat them, with no success, but

as the two choruses quarrel, the restoration of Love is achieved.

• The play is far from nihilistic or anarchic; Aristophanes’ hedonism is constructive.

• The play ends with the restoration of love and marriage rather than with an orgy of blind sexual gratification; it is a plea for Panhellenic peace; Eros is joined by the civilizing power of Sophia.



GENDER

• Athenian theater was created by men and for men, yet it is generally believed to contain some of the best female roles in the world repertory.

• It was state-sponsored and men attended as the only voting members of the Athenian society.



Athenian women

• Although the city’s patron was Athena the Maiden, its society was ruled by men and the sculptures explore the ambivalence of the goddess who transcends gender.



Athenian Women…

• were legal non-entities.• Religious activities were

the only public occasions on which their presence was allowed.

• E.g., during the Thesmophoria women took over the Pnyx, the male assembly place and camped there, eating only raw food; much obscenity was involved.



In Greek Theater…

• All actors are men.• Young chorus men

representing both old men and women, esp. in the Lysistrata seem to engage in a rite of passage acquiring virility through impersonating those who lacked virility.



Documents

ARISTOPHANES. Aristophanes (445-386) By his time, the comic theater is already in an independent institution yet still very close to its origins Aristophanes’