Boeotia
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| - | '''''Lysistrata''''' loosely translated to "she who disbands armies", is an [[anti-war]] [[Greek comedy]], written in [[411 BCE]] by [[Aristophanes]]. | + | '''Boeotia''', also spelled '''Beotia''' and '''Bœotia''' , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of [[ancient Greece]], north of the eastern part of the [[Gulf of Corinth]]. It was bounded on the south by [[Megaris]] and the [[Kithairon]] mountain range that forms a natural barrier with [[Attica]], on the north by [[Opuntian Locris]] and the [[Euripus Strait]] at the [[Gulf of Euboea]], and on the west by [[Phocis]]. [[Lake Copais]] was a large lake in the center of Boeotia. |
| - | == Plot == | + | [[Boeotia Prefecture]] is a prefecture of modern [[Greece]] with approximately the same boundaries. |
| - | Led by the title character, Lysistrata, the story's female characters barricade the public funds building and [[withhold sex]] from their husbands to end the [[Peloponnesian War]] and secure [[peace]]. In doing so, Lysistrata engages the support of women from [[Sparta]], [[Boeotia]], and [[Corinth]]. All of the other women are first aghast at Lysistrata's suggestion to withhold sex. Finally, they agree to swearing an oath of allegiance by drinking wine from a shield. This is ironic and therefore comical, because Greek men believed women had no self-restraint, a lack displayed in their alleged fondness for wine as well as for sex. | + | |
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| - | The play was originally performed at either the [[Dionysia]] or a smaller Festival of [[Dionysus]], called the [[Lenaia]] festival. A different comedy by Aristophanes, [[Women at the Thesmophoria]], was also produced that year, and it is not clear which play was produced at which festival. | + | |
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| - | Some people believe that the play also addresses the contributions women could make to society and to policy making, but cannot because their views are ignored as all such considerations are the prerogative of men only. See the exchange between Lysistrata and the magistrate who comes to try to browbeat the women into giving up their plans. | + | |
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| - | While many people today treat the play as a proto-feminist dialouge, it is not. The play would have been highly comic to Aristophanes' contemporaries, they would not have seen woman having the power as a real occurance, but as a comic idea. While the playwright was extolling the virtues of peace gained by any means, this is overall a comic play. The "woman" would have been played by men, and their inability to deal with the lack of sex as well as their addiction to alcohol makes it even more comic. Throughout, the masculinely portrayed Lysistrata is the only female not entirely connected with the domestic and not weak. | + | |
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| - | Lysistrata touches upon the poignancy of young women left with no eligible young men to marry because of deaths in the wars: "Nay, but it isn't the same with a man/Grey though he be when he comes from the battlefield/still if he wishes to marry he can/Brief is the spring and the flower of our womanhood/once let slip, and it comes not again/Sit as we may with our spells and our auguries/never a husband shall marry us then." | + | |
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| - | As with all [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] comedies, the actors portraying male characters wore [[phallus]]es, but since audiences of the day were accustomed to this convention, there would be no shock-humour as might be experienced by the modern audiences of today. The dirty joke and double-entrendres present in the play, however, would have been appreciated in the same way that they are today. | + | |
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| - | == Theme == | + | |
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| - | [[War of the sexes]] | + | |
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Revision as of 13:53, 15 September 2009
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Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , formerly Cadmeis, was a region of ancient Greece, north of the eastern part of the Gulf of Corinth. It was bounded on the south by Megaris and the Kithairon mountain range that forms a natural barrier with Attica, on the north by Opuntian Locris and the Euripus Strait at the Gulf of Euboea, and on the west by Phocis. Lake Copais was a large lake in the center of Boeotia.
Boeotia Prefecture is a prefecture of modern Greece with approximately the same boundaries.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Boeotia" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
