Lysistrata: A New Verse Translation

Aristophanes, a native Athenian and the leading exponent of Greek comedy, was born c. 450 BCE. Today forty—three of his plays are known by title; eleven survive. The most famous of these is the whimsical fantasy Lysistrata.

A perennial classroom and stage favorite as well as the basis of Spike Lee’s Chi—Raq, the play is as relevant today as it was 2,500 years ago. The premise is simplicity itself: to end the Peloponnesian War, women decide to withhold sex from their husbands until the fight...