Lysistrata and Other Plays

Apr 9, 2026 6:28 AM

Author:Aristophanes,Alan H. Sommerstein

The Acharnians/The Clouds/Lysistrata

'We women have the salvation of Greece in our hands'

Writing at a time of political and social crisis in Athens, the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes was an eloquent, yet bawdy, challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. In Lysistrata and The Acharnians, two pleas for an end to the long war between Athens and Sparta, a band of women on a sex strike and a lone peasant respectively defeat the political establishment. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged.

Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Alan H. Sommerstein

Reviews

A scholarly edition of world class

—— Bernard Crick , New Statesman

The edition is a wonder

—— Bevis Hillier , Spectator

You'll enjoy this wild and, in places, wildly funny story- It is all an hilarious send-up of the Dornford Yates style of thriller with some modernistic Sharpe barbs added

—— Daily Express

One of our best contemporary comic writers- very, very funny

—— Birmingham Evening Mail

Excellently funny

—— Auberon Waugh , Daily Mail

He has not written a better or more skilful farce

—— Financial Times

Britain's leading practitioner of black humour

—— Punch

The year's most impressive debut

—— John Carey , Sunday Times

Like Donna Tartt’s "The Secret History" or a good film noir . . . Jane’s low-key narration has just the right tone to keep readers hooked

—— People magazine

The strength of 'The Lake of Dead Languages' is a silken prose that lures the reader into Goodman’s . . . story of murder, suicide . . . revenge, and madness

—— The Washington Post Book World

Part suspense, part coming-of-age, and all-enthralling . . . A book that needs the roar of a fire to ward off its psychic chill

—— The Denver Post

Previous Article：The New Penguin Book of Love Poetry Next Article：The Abortion

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.