Lysistrata

Act One

Lysistrata is frustrated by the continuing war between the Greek states and desperately wants to bring peace to the country. She has planned a meeting between all of the women of Greece to discuss her plan to end the Peloponnesian War once and for all. However, aside from her neighbor, Calonice, the women are all late. As Lysistrata waits for the women of Sparta, Thebes, and other areas to meet her she curses the weakness of her sex. Lysistrata plans to ask the women to refuse sex with their husbands until a treaty for peace has been signed. She has also made plans with the older women of Athens (the Chorus of Old Women) to seize the Acropolis, the fortress which holds the treasury of Athens, and forbid the men from entering.

Finally, the women from across Greece assemble before Lysistrata and she outlines her plan. She convinces them to swear an oath that they will withhold sex from their husbands until both sides sign a treaty of peace. Enthused by female solidarity, the