The Women's People's Assembly
The Women's People 's Assembly or Women in the People's Assembly ( Greek Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklēsiázousai ) is a classic Greek comedy that the poet Aristophanes wrote around 392 BC. Wrote. In it he portrayed women as a latent revolutionary force, a subject he had already dealt with in his earlier comedy Lysistrata .
The name of the protagonist Praxagora is derived from praxis and agora and can be translated as the one acting in the assembly , i.e. parliamentarian .
action
The women of Athens are outraged by their husbands' policies, which, in their view, are characterized by constant wars, greed and armaments policies. Led by Praxagora, they stun their husbands, disguise themselves as them and thus enter the popular assembly reserved for men only. There, because of the majority of votes they had stolen in disguise, they democratically ensure that power in the state passes to them.
The men are more than surprised by and more than outraged by their unexpected disempowerment. The concept of women is an egalitarian, libertarian society in which all property is reduced to the common good and the role of men is degraded.
interpretation
The text can be seen as a comedy that makes fun of a society similar to modern communism that women create in order to reinforce the then current political forms and to prevent the revolting Athenian women's elite from making further political excursions.
It can also be seen as a criticism of a society dominated by women, since extremely anti-male laws are introduced, such as the withdrawal of children from the father and upbringing in a female environment.
The author describes the politics of women, this is how the above-mentioned "free love" is implemented, in which a man can sleep with any woman in Athens, but first has to sleep with any woman who is uglier than his beloved. This is described in a scene when a young man named Epigenes wants to pick up his wife, but is dragged into the house by three old women who cite the new law and ask for intercourse before he can sleep on his own wife.
All prostitution is also forbidden, but the female slaves who remain unemployed are not allowed to sleep with a free man.
All property is transferred from the women to the state and all private property is classified as illegal.
The last scene reports how the women send their messengers to take away his belongings from an unwilling man. They come to him and tell him about a great festival for the women to come to power. However, he is not allowed to come unless he gives up all of his personal possessions. The old man throws the messengers out of his house and shouts after them that as a free man he will keep all his possessions, but still take part in the festival and fill his stomach.
Others
Aristophanes' comedy contains the longest word in literature . It is the name of a fictional dish:
"Λοπαδοτεμαχοσελαχογαλεοκρανιολειψανοδριμυποτριμματοσιλφιοκαραβομελιτοκατακεχυμενοκιχλεπικοσσυφοφαττοπεριστεραλεκτρυονοπτοκεφαλλιοκιγκλοπελειολαγῳοσιραιοβαφητραγανοπτερύγων"
"Oyster snail salmon moray eel-vinegar honey cream-crown-butter choke hare roast-cockscomb pheasant calf-brain field pigeon syrup herring-lark truffle-filled bowl"
Translation and editing
- Ludwig Seeger : The Women's People's Assembly. In: Aristophanes , Vol. 3. Frankfurt a. M. 1848 (Google book search).
- Ilka Boll : The women's joy festival. After Aristophanes. Manuscript printing . Stefani Hunzinger Bühnenverlag, Bad Homburg 1981.
- Women in the assembly . Translated by Niklas Holzberg . Reclam, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 978-3-15-018305-2 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aristophanes: Women in the People's Assembly (edited by Niklas Holzberg), Ditzingen 2017.
- ^ Guinness Book of World Records . 1990, ISBN 0-8069-5790-5 , p. 129.
- ↑ Aristophanes, Ecclesiazusae, verses 1170 to 1175.
- ^ Translation by Ludwig Seeger .
