Lysistrata

The play’s protagonist, Lysistrata’s name means “Army-Dissolver.” It also had a faint connotation with sex; “lysi-” comes from a Greek verb which means “to loosen,” and can refer to sex’s ability to make people loosen up (as the sex blockade does in the play). Her name may be a reference to a famous real-life contemporary priestess of Athena, Lysimache (“Battle-Dissolver”), but we should not think of Lysistrata as a direct adaptation of a real historical figure. The similarities between her and the priestess may be useful, though, in linking Lysistrata to the goddess Athena herself. Like Athena, she is knowledgeable about the domestic sphere, but also competent in battle (even if the battle is for love). Like Athena, she also takes up a place on the Acropolis and refuses to leave; in myth, Athena bested the sea god Poseidon there to become the patron goddess of the city.

Lysistrata is typical of Aristophanes’ male comic heroes in everything but her gender. She sees a problem, has an innovative idea to solve it, and eventually puts things right, not only for herself but for her city (and in this case, all of Greece).