In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
Categories: Education
Listen to the last episode:
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aristophanes' comedy in which the women of Athens and Sparta, led by Lysistrata, secure peace in the long-running war between them by staging a sex strike. To the men in the audience in 411BC, the idea that peace in the Peloponnesian War could be won so easily was ridiculous and the thought that their wives could have so much power over them was even more so. However Aristophanes' comedy also has the women seizing the treasure in the Acropolis that was meant to fund more fighting in an emergency, a fund the Athenians had recently had to draw on. They were in a perilous position and, much as they might laugh at Aristophanes' jokes, they knew there were real concerns about the actual cost of the war in terms of wealth and manpower.
With
Paul Cartledge AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge
Sarah Miles Associate Professor in the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Durham University
And
James Robson Professor of Classical Studies at the Open University
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Aristophanes (ed. Jeffrey Henderson), Lysistrata (Oxford University Press, 1987)
Aristophanes (ed. Jeffrey Henderson), Three Plays by Aristophanes: Staging Women (Routledge, 2010)
Aristophanes (ed. Jeffrey Henderson), Birds; Lysistrata; Women at the Thesmophoria (Loeb Classical Library series, Harvard University Press, 2014)
Aristophanes (ed. Alan H. Sommerstein), Lysistrata and Other Plays: The Acharnians; The Clouds; Lysistrata (Penguin, 2002)
Aristophanes (ed. Alan H. Sommerstein), Lysistrata (Aris & Phillips, 1998)
Paul Cartledge, Aristophanes and his Theatre of the Absurd (Bristol Classical Press, 1999)
Kenneth Dover, Aristophanic Comedy (University of California Press, 1972)
Germaine Greer, Lysistrata: The Sex Strike: After Aristophanes (Aurora Metro Press, 2000)
Tony Harrison, The Common Chorus: A Version of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata (Faber & Faber, 1992)
Douglas M. MacDowell, Aristophanes and Athens: An Introduction to the Plays (Oxford University Press, 1995)
S. Douglas Olson (ed.), Ancient Comedy and Reception: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey Henderson (De Gruyter, 2013), especially 'She (Don't) Gotta Have It: African-American reception of Lysistrata' by Kevin Wetmore
James Robson, Aristophanes: Lysistrata, Bloomsbury ancient comedy companions (Bloomsbury, 2023)
James Robson, Aristophanes: An Introduction (Duckworth, 2009)
Ralph M. Rosen and Helene P. Foley (eds.), Aristophanes and Politics. New Studies (Brill, 2020)
Donald Sells, Parody, Politics and the Populace in Greek Old Comedy (Bloomsbury, 2018)
David Stuttard (ed.), Looking at Lysistrata: Eight Essays and a New Version of Aristophanes' Provocative Comedy (Bristol Classical Press, 2010)
Previous episodes
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284 - Lysistrata Thu, 09 May 2024
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283 - The Kalevala Thu, 25 Apr 2024
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282 - The Waltz Thu, 11 Apr 2024
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281 - Walt Whitman Thu, 25 May 2023
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280 - The Ramayana Thu, 06 Apr 2023
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279 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Thu, 14 Mar 2024
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278 - Twelfth Night, or What You Will Thu, 25 Jan 2024
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277 - Vincent van Gogh Thu, 18 Jan 2024
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276 - Edgar Allan Poe Thu, 28 Dec 2023
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275 - Marguerite de Navarre Thu, 21 Dec 2023
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274 - The Theory of the Leisure Class Thu, 14 Dec 2023
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273 - Germinal Thu, 23 Nov 2023
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272 - The Seventh Seal Thu, 19 Oct 2023
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271 - Death in Venice Thu, 13 Jul 2023
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270 - Oedipus Rex Thu, 06 Jul 2023
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269 - Virgil's Georgics Thu, 15 Jun 2023
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268 - A Room of One's Own Thu, 27 Apr 2023
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267 - Stevie Smith Thu, 16 Mar 2023
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266 - John Donne Thu, 09 Feb 2023
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265 - Persuasion Thu, 19 Jan 2023
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264 - Citizen Kane Thu, 12 Jan 2023
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263 - The Nibelungenlied Thu, 29 Dec 2022
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262 - Bauhaus Thu, 08 Dec 2022
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261 - Wilfred Owen Thu, 24 Nov 2022
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260 - Berthe Morisot Thu, 10 Nov 2022
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259 - Nineteen Eighty-Four Thu, 13 Oct 2022
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258 - John Bull Thu, 28 Jul 2022
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257 - Dylan Thomas Thu, 14 Jul 2022
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256 - Tang Era Poetry Thu, 09 Jun 2022
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255 - Olympe de Gouges Thu, 19 May 2022
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254 - Polidori's The Vampyre Thu, 05 May 2022
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253 - The Sistine Chapel Thu, 28 Apr 2022
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252 - Antigone Thu, 21 Apr 2022
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251 - In Our Time is now first on BBC Sounds Fri, 04 Mar 2022
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250 - Romeo and Juliet Thu, 17 Feb 2022
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249 - Colette Thu, 27 Jan 2022
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248 - Thomas Hardy's Poetry Thu, 13 Jan 2022
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247 - Fritz Lang Thu, 30 Dec 2021
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246 - A Christmas Carol Thu, 16 Dec 2021
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245 - The Decadent Movement Thu, 18 Nov 2021
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244 - The Song of Roland Thu, 04 Nov 2021
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243 - Iris Murdoch Thu, 21 Oct 2021
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242 - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall Thu, 30 Sep 2021
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241 - Herodotus Thu, 23 Sep 2021
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240 - Shakespeare's Sonnets Thu, 24 Jun 2021
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239 - Edward Gibbon Thu, 17 Jun 2021
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238 - Journey to the West Thu, 20 May 2021
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237 - Ovid Thu, 29 Apr 2021
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236 - The Bacchae Thu, 18 Mar 2021
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235 - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Thu, 04 Mar 2021