Engl 244 Quiz 1

Maid Of Persphone

Thinking Heracles has arrived at Pluto's house, she invites him in for Persephone's meal and dancing girls.

Korinthian Girl

This lady accompanies Ismenia and Lampito to Lysistrata's meeting and is known for her vast posterior bodily feature.

Peloponnesian War

an ancient Greek war fought by the Delian League led by Athens against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases.

Lampito

representative of Spartan women. Lampito is a large, well-built woman who American audiences might imagine with a thick Appalachian accent (by Arrowsmith's translation, Sparta was the Greek equivalent of the stereotypically South). Lampito brings the Spartan women into Lysistrata's plan.

Chorus of Old Women

seizes and then protects the Akropolis from the Chorus of Old Men. The Chorus of Old Women, although frail, fights to the last with the men and finds victory in the end.

Aristophanes

son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion, was a comic playwright of ancient Athens. Eleven of his forty plays survive virtually complete.

Heracles

the famous son of Zeus who completed the Twelve Labors. Heracles in this play provides Dionysus with advice on traveling to the underworld. Heracles's past deeds there are vilified by Aeacus and the innkeepers.

Epops

the hoopoe. Now King of the Birds, he was once...

Myrrhine

If rank were imposed, Myrrhine would be the second strongest woman in Lysistrata. Myrrhine is able to seduce her husband, Kinesias, but she refuses sex with him just at the last minute.

Cloudcoockooland

Imaginary city-state of the birds, located in the sky and invented by Aristophanes, who set another play, The Frogs (405 b.c.e.), in another imaginary place, mythical Hades. Two humans leave their own city of Athens and seek Hoopoe, the bird king, at a desolate cliffside vaguely described as a "hundred-mile hike" from home. Hoopoe's roost is a leafy thicket wheeled onstage with its master; the humans must sprout wings to accept Hoopoe's offer of hospitality inside. Hoopoe satisfies his guests' quest for a perfect city-state of rest and relaxation by agreeing to help them establish such a utopia for the birds. Various charlatans from Athens are subsequently driven off as they seek selfish advantage in the new city.

Plathane

Another female innkeeper in Hades who dislikes Heracles for his bad behavior when he traveled there.

Lysistrata

Athenian woman who is sick and tired of war and the treatment of women in Athens. Lysistrata gathers the women of Sparta and Athens together to solve these social ills and finds success and power in her quest. Lysistrata is the least feminine of the women from either Athens or Sparta, and her masculinity helps her gain respect among the men.

Ismenia

Boitian girl who has a nice body, keeps herself well tended, and is quite possibly mute.

Athens

Democratic ancient Greek city-state at the height of its imperial power when this play was produced during a major state religious festival. The chorus of birds shifts its focus from the imaginary setting of the play to the real location of the production by addressing the audience directly in choral interludes which allow Aristophanes, himself a citizen of Athens, to express his political views to the assembled citizenry and delegates from subject allies. Throughout the play, places are mentioned relevant to Athens's contemporary political situation, such as the Greek city-states Sparta and Corinth, Athens's enemies; Persia and Babylon, representing an imperial eastern threat; Lydia and Phrygia, Asiatic regions that supplied slaves; the Aegean islands of Chios and Melos, subject allies of Athens, and so on. Some obscure towns are named solely for humorous effect, such as Olophyxia or "Groansville" in the northern Aegean, and Corinth's neighbor Orneai or "Birdland."

Peace

Lysistrata's handmaid. Peace is the unclothed beauty of a woman whom Lysistrata displays and uses during her final plea for peace between Athens and Sparta. Terribly aroused and uncomfortable, the men quickly discuss the terms of a truce, all the while staring at Peace's body.

Mount Olympus

Mythical mountain dwelling of the Greek gods, located somewhere above the birds' territory. Rest and relaxation triumph over politics when the gods cede their universal sovereignty to Cloudcuckooland in order to continue receiving men's sacrifices, which must pass through its territory.

Chorus of Initiates

Part of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Initiates help Dionysus and Xanthias on their path and also sing of the rites and members of the Mysteries, the glories of Demeter and Iacchus; they also poke fun at notable politicians and poets.

Chorus of Frogs

Sings for Dionysus while he takes Charon's boat across the Styx, jesting and teasing with their rambunctious croaking and singing.

Slave of Pluto

Speaks with Xanthias about how he criticizes his master behind his back, and gives information about the upcoming contest between Aeschylus and Euripides.

Koryphaios of Men

The Koryphaios of Men, a stubborn and rather grouchy fellow, leads the Chorus of Old Men around Athens.

Persephone

The daughter of Demeter and the wife of Pluto.

Aeacus

The doorman of Pluto's house in Hades; he hates Heracles for stealing Cerberus and thus tries to torture Dionysus and Xanthias when they are disguised as Heracles.

Charon

The ferryman on the river Styx; in the play he takes Dionysus across the lake to Hades.

Dionysus

The god of both wine and ecstatic mystical religion, Dionysus is the protagonist of the play, first seeking to travel to Hades to bring back a poet of wise counsel to help Athens, and then judging the poetic contest between Euripides and Aeschylus. He is cocky but cowardly, self-seeking and crass.

Pluto

The god of the underworld and husband of Persephone, Pluto calls the contest between poets and allows the winner to return to Athens.

Xanthias

The keen-witted and ambitious slave of Dionysus, Xanthias likes to complain about and compete with his master.

Kinesias

The needy, desperate clown that Myrrhine calls her husband. Kinesias is the first man to be affected by the sex strike and comes to the Akropolis, fully enflamed.

Euripedes

The recently deceased poet whom Dionysus originally intends to bring back from the underworld. Euripides was a tragic poet who often wrote of the common people. Aeschylus criticizes him for wanton verse and witty but decadent intellectualism.

Aeschylus

The renowned tragic poet who engages in a contest with Euripides to see who holds the chair of honor next to Pluto. While Euripides mocks him as stentorian and verbose, Dionysus finds his verse more traditional, sagacious, and necessary to help Athens in their time of need, and thus brings him back to the world above.

Innkeeper

The woman who runs the inn in Hades; she dislikes Heracles for his behavior on his visit there.

Pisthetærus

an old man of Athens who has left his native city in disapproval because of the corruption, especially the litigiousness, of his countrymen. High-spirited, comically fantastic, and sometimes even vulgar, he nevertheless has an underlying vein of hardheaded good sense that makes him despise hypocrites and frauds. He uses his oratorical skill to convince the birds that they are the superiors of the gods, and he proposes the creation of Nephelo-Coccygia, or "Cloud Cuckoo Land," the strategic location of which will give the birds power over both gods and men. For his pains, he is awarded wings and a position of respect in the land of the birds. He adopts a very casual attitude toward the gods who come to negotiate a peace, and through shrewd dealing he wins not only the scepter of Zeus for the birds but also the hand of Basileia, or "Sovereignty," and celestial bounty for himself.

Eulpides

another old Athenian, Pisthetærus' companion and foil. Not as sharply individualized, he is, like Pisthetærus, disgusted with Athenian life and ready to cooperate in his friend's schemes. He too has a broadly comic wit and a keen eye for a pretty courtesan.

Commissioner of Public Safety

apparently the head of security and law in Athens, but is completely overwhelmed by the women and ends up being dressed as a woman himself. Lysistrata has a lengthy conversation with the Commissioner about the future of Athens and peace in the region, but the Commissioner is very slow to understand her logic.

Koryphaios of Women

leads the Chorus of Old Women around. The Koryphaios of Women leads a successful seizure of the Akropolis and outwits the men in every possible way.

The Chorus of Old Men

live up to their title; the chorus is made up of twelve old men who teeter around Athens attempting to keep the women in line. Although, unsuccessful in their civic duties, the Chorus of Old Men strike up some fantastical misogynistic melodies and are a generally comedic element of the play.

Kleonike

next-door neighbor of Lysistrata and is the first to show up at Lysistrata's meeting of women. Kleonike embraces her feminine side and is delighted that Lysistrata's scheme for peace involves garments like negligees.