At vv. 335–343 of the Lysistrata, the semicorps of old women reports having heard that the old men (comprising the other semicorps) were planning to set fire to the entrance of the Acropolis, with the aim of forcing the women to surrender—either by burning them or by suffocating them. The goddess Athena is then invoked, with the prayer that she preserve the gynaikes unharmed, since they are the only ones capable of freeing both Greece and the politai from the polemou maniai (“madnesses of war”). This opposition between gynaikes and politai demonstrates that the former were not automatically associated with the group of politai—a term which here clearly refers to males alone, afflicted by the polemou maniai either as combatants or as supporters of the war.
Later, at vv. 1043–1050, when the two semicorps have been happily reunited and have resolved their quarrel, the chorus decides that they will no longer insult any among the politai. In this instance, women are evidently included (since the old men are also speaking), but it is noteworthy that a few lines later the chorus explicitly specifies that it addresses both men and women—further evidence that, for the play’s audience, women were not automatically included among the politai, a term with a more specifically institutional meaning and a clearly defined gendered connotation.
a. 335-343
XOΡΟΣ ΓΡΑΩΝ
335 ἤκουσα γὰρ τυφογέρον-
τας ἄνδρας ἔρρειν, στελέχη
φέροντας ὥσπερ βαλανεύσοντας
εἰς πόλιν ὡς τριτάλαντον βάρος,
δεινότατ’ ἀπειλοῦντας ἐπῶν,
340 ὡς πυρὶ χρὴ τὰς μυσαρὰς γυναῖκας ἀνθρακίζειν.
ἅς, ὦ θεά, μή ποτ’ ἐγὼ ’μπιμπραμένας ἴδοιμι,
ἀλλὰ πολέμου καὶ μανιῶν ῥυσαμένας Ἑλλάδα καὶ πολίτας.
Chorus of Old
Women:
For I have heard that the doddering old men
are on the march, bearing logs
—as if on their way to take a bath—
weighing three talents apiece,
uttering the most dreadful threats in their words:
that these accursed women must be reduced to embers by fire.
O goddess, may I never behold them burning,
but rather rescuing Greece and the politai
from the madnesses of war.
b. 1043-1053
ΧΟΡΟΣ
1043/4 Oὐ παρασκευαζόμεσθα τῶν πολιτῶν οὐδέν’, ὦν-
1045 δρες, φλαῦρον εἰπεῖν οὐδὲ ἕν,
ἀλλὰ πολὺ τοὔμπαλιν
πάντ’ ἀγαθὰ καὶ λέγειν
καὶ δρᾶν· ἱκανὰ γὰρ τὰ κακὰ
καὶ τὰ παρακείμενα,
1050a ἀλλ’ ἐπαγγελλέτω
1050b πᾶς ἀνὴρ καὶ γυνή,
εἴ τις ἀργυρίδιον
δεῖται λαβεῖν, μνᾶς ἢ δύ’ ἢ
τρεῖς.
We are not preparing to say anything
ill of any among the politai, gentlemen,
but quite the contrary:
to speak and to do only what is good,
for the evils already at hand are more than enough.
Rather, let every man and every woman
proclaim if they are in need
of a small sum of silver—
a mina or two, or three.
- A. Bierl, Der Chor in der Alten Komödie. Ritual und Performativität, München – Leipzig 2001
- A.L. Bonnette, The Political Wisdom of Women in Aristophanes: A Study of Lysistrate, Ecclesiazusàe and Thesmophoriazusae, Diss. Boston 1989.
- D. Konstan, Aristophanes’ Lysistrata: women and the body politic in S. Halliwell, J. Henderson, A.H. Sommerstein, B. Zimmermann (edd.), Tragedy, Comedy and the Polis. Papers from the Greek Drama Conference (Nottingham, 18-28 July 1990), Bari 1993, 431-44.
- N. Loraux, Aristophane, les femmes d’Athènes et le théâtre in J.M. Bremer-E.W. Handley (edd.), Aristophane. Sept exposés suivis de discussions par E. Degani, T. Gelzer, E. W Handley, J.M. Bremer, K.J. Dover, N. Loraux, B. Zimmermann, Vandreuvres-Genève 1993, 203-253
- G. Mastromarco, Introduzione a Aristofane, Roma – Bari 1994
- F. Perusino, S. Beta, Aristofane. Lisistrata, Milano 2020
- F. Sartori, Salvezza della polis e salvezza dell’Ellade nel teatro di Aristofane in I. Velissaropoulou-Karakosta, S. Troianos, K. Bourdara, M. Stathopoulos (edd.), Τιμαὶ Ἰωάννου Τριανταφυλλοπούλου, Athina-Komotini 2000, 77-88
- A. H. Sommerstein, Lysistrata, Warminster 1990