- 01Foreword by Jack Lindsay
- 01Cast of characters
- 02Lysistrata's plan to end the war
- 03The women's oath over the wine bowl
- 01Women seize the Acropolis
- 02Old Men attack the captured Acropolis
- 01The assault on the Acropolis
- 01Women bring water to stop the men’s fire
- 02The women and men trade threats and insults
- 03Water quenches the men’s attack
- 01Magistrate’s complaint about women’s revels
- 02Lysistrata’s confrontation with the magistrate
- 01Women seize the Acropolis and treasury
- 02Lysistrata's speech on women's wartime grievances
- 03Women's plan to manage war like household work
- 04Marriage, aging, and the burden on women
- 01Old men's alarm at the women's takeover
- 02Women's defense and civic credentials
- 03Escalation into comic battle threats
- 01Lysistrata confronts the women’s desertion
- 02Excuses for leaving: wool, flax, and childbirth
- 01The oracle of victory
- 01Oracle of the swallows and retreat to duty
- 02Melanion fable and the old men's chastity
- 03Comic exchange between man and woman
Lysistrata
Comedy, war, gender, and civic life.
8Chapters
31Lessons
63Topics
Certificate of completion included
This course was produced by Cavua from a public-domain text.
Skills this course leaves you with.
- Analyze the play’s treatment of war and civic life in classical Athens
- Explain how comedy is used to address gender roles and political conflict
- Trace the major scenes and dramatic turning points in Lysistrata
- Interpret the significance of reconciliation and peace in the play’s ending
- Discuss character interactions and chorus-based humor in key episodes
Curriculum
The full table of contents.
Every chapter, every lesson, every topic — laid out before you enroll. Click any chapter to expand it.
- Chapters
- 8
- Lessons
- 31
- Topics
- 63
- 01Women and men trade comic boasts
- 02Lysistrata enters and calls the women
- 01By the Temple of Chloe
- 01Myrrhine recognizes Cinesias
- 02Lysistrata’s instructions for seduction
- 03Cinesias enters the women’s lines
- 01Cinesias asks for Myrrhine
- 01Myrrhine’s farewell and Cinesias’s plea
- 02The child’s appeal and Myrrhine’s pity
- 03Myrrhine comes down to the child
- 04Cinesias admires Myrrhine’s beauty
- 05Myrrhine plays with and kisses the child
- 01Myrrhine's oath and the treaty demand
- 02Cinesias tries to arrange a tryst
- 01Cushions and pillows for Cinesias
- 02The blanket and the Treaty
- 01Perfuming Cinesias with Rhodian scents
- 01Cinesias’s frustrated pursuit
- 02Chorus mockery of Cinesias
- 01Spartan herald’s arrival with peace dispatches
- 01Herald's arrival and the Spartan cane
- 02Women block the peace negotiations
- 01Reconciliation of the men and women
- 02Chorus on peace and hospitality
- 01Spartan envoys seek peace
- 01Negotiating peace terms
- 01Lysistrata summoned to arbitrate the peace
- 01Negotiating Pylos and territorial exchanges
- 02Peace and allied consent
- 01Invitation to the Acropolis feast
- 02Market loungers and the porter
- 03Banqueters praise the feast and dance
- 01Invocation to Mnemosyne and praise of Spartan valor
- 02Prayer for peace and reconciliation
- 03Lysistrata's call for spouses to reunite and dance
- 01Invocation of the gods
- 02Spartan victory song
- 01Praise of Sparta and its dancing maidens
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