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Lysistrata

by Aristophanes (-450–-388)

  • Free to read
  • 40 min read
  • 48 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"Lysistrata" by Aristophanes is an ancient Greek comedy first staged in 411 BCE. When the Peloponnesian War drags on endlessly, an Athenian woman named Lysistrata devises a bold plan: convince women from all warring Greek city-states to withhold sex from their husbands until peace is negotiated. Leading a rebellion that includes seizing the Acropolis and its treasury, Lysistrata sparks a battle between the sexes that tests whether desire or duty will prevail in this audacious comedy about war and power.

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  • Comedy plays
  • Greek drama (Comedy) · Translations into English
  • Lysistrata (Fictitious character)
  • Peace movements
  • Women and peace
  • Greece · History · Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C.
  • Aristophanes · Translations into English

Read the opening

Lysistrata

If they were trysting for a Bacchanal,
A feast of Pan or Colias or Genetyllis,
The tambourines would block the rowdy streets,
But now there's not a woman to be seen
Except—ah, yes—this neighbour of mine yonder.

Enter CALONICE.

Good day Calonice.

Keep reading Lysistrata →

Contents

Show all 48 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Lysistrata
  3. Lampito
  4. Lysistrata
  5. Lysistrata
  6. Lysistrata
  7. Calonice
  8. Women
  9. Magistrate
  10. Magistrate
  11. Lysistrata
  12. Magistrate
  13. Women
  14. Lysistrata
  15. Lysistrata
  16. Lysistrata
  17. Lysistrata
  18. Lysistrata
  19. Lysistrata
  20. Lysistrata
  21. Lysistrata
  22. Old Men
  23. Women
  24. Men
  25. Women
  26. Lysistrata
  27. Lysistrata
  28. Old Men
  29. Women
  30. Cinesias
  31. Cinesias
  32. Cinesias
  33. Cinesias
  34. Women
  35. Women
  36. Women
  37. Women
  38. Chorus
  39. Chorus
  40. Lysistrata
  41. Lysistrata
  42. Lysistrata
  43. Chorus
  44. Porter
  45. Porter
  46. Spartans
  47. Athenians
  48. Spartans

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About this edition

This free edition of Lysistrata by Aristophanes comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #7700, released 2005-03-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Humour, Plays/Films/Dramas, Classics of Literature, History - Ancient.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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