Peace, comedy by Aristophanes, performed at the Great Dionysia in 421 BCE. The plot concerns the flight to heaven on a monstrous dung beetle by a war-weary farmer, Trygaeus (“Vintager”), who searches for the lost goddess Peace only to discover that the God of War has buried her in a pit. The play was written during the Peloponnesian War fought between Athens and Sparta. It was staged about seven months after both Cleon (the Athenian general) and Brasidas (the Spartan general) died in battle. Peace anticipated, by a few weeks, the ratification of the Peace of Nicias (421 BCE), which suspended hostilities between Athens and Sparta for six uneasy years. The play won the second prize.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Peace”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Peace-play-by-Aristophanes. Accessed 14 October 2024.
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We will meet on November 26, 2024, at 11:00 a.m. EST! The Zoom link will be posted on the Forums on the same day. Come explore the play and Aristophanes’ humor, both political and around the farm. Many subtle ideas about war and peace are presented cleverly.