Aka The Assemblywomen; (Ecclesiazusae; Ἐκκλησιάζουσαι Ekklesiazousai) Congresswomen, Women in Parliament, Women in Power, and A Parliament of Women.
There are no surviving details when this play was first performed. From internal information in the play it seems it was produced around 393-391 BC, around the time of the Corinthian War.
Corinthian War - Wikipedia
Skene
A significant portion of the play revolves around the Pnyx, which was the actual Athenian assembly meeting place on a hill overlooking the Agora. Other scenes may depict various streets or public areas in ancient Athens.
Dramatis Personae
Praxagora (The main character who devises the plan for women to take over the Assembly). Her name means "woman who takes action in a public place and space".
Blepyrus (Praxagora's husband).
Chorus (Group of women disguised as men)
Chremes (A citizen returning from the Assembly meeting)
Citizen/Selfish Man (A man opposed to sharing wealth under the new female-led government)
Epigenes (A young man struggling with the new law requiring him to sleep with an old woman first)
Plot
Disgruntled Women, Daring Plan: Praxagora, tired of the men's political ineptitude, hatches a plan to seize power. The women of Athens will disguise themselves as men and in a coup d'état take control of the citizens' Assembly [Ecclesia]. Together they will institute a new social order where women will hold all the power.
The Women take over of the Assembly: The women in their clever disguises succeed, and they manage to infiltrate the Assembly and to vote themselves into leadership. Athens is going to get some major reforms: in session at the Assembly they manage to pass a series of laws, including the abolition of private property, and institute the communal sharing of wives, and the equal distribution of wealth.Thereby a Communist Utopia is set up: Praxagora enacts a series of reforms creating a kind of Utopian communist society. Private property is abolished, and everything, including wives, are shared communally. Public buildings are turned into communal dining halls. Dividing walls between households are abolished, as are families too.
Equality Rules (Even in Love): Forget wealth and status determining relationships between men and women; love and procreation become the prime duties, with everyone – young, old, attractive, and less attractive – sharing equally the burden of mating and giving birth to the next generation. Slaves are excluded from these proposals, though. As the new order takes hold, chaos ensues as traditional gender roles are overturned, and men find themselves subjected to the whims of their wives. In the new order and under the regime of women, social inequality, based on wealth, age, and beauty are abolished, and along with them the principal causes of selfishness too.
Men's Grumbling Acceptance: The men, initially resistant, eventually find some benefits in this new arrangement and system, especially the readily available meals. Only the selfish ones who hoard possessions are unhappy.
So, is it a happy-ever-after situation? Two main causes bring the new regime down: some remain clinging to the old order wanting to hold onto its privileges, the desire to hold onto property; the second involves the new regime's principle of sexual equality and its system of giving priority to the old and ugly - it just doesn't work. Aristophanes' play uses bawdy and absurd humour to satirise the Athenian government and society's norms. The ending is open to interpretation. While the women appear to be in control, the long-term viability of this unusual social experiment remains unclear. In the end, the absurdity of rule by women becomes apparent, and the natural order according to Aristophanes is restored, albeit with a lesson learned about the dangers of radical social experimentation.References
Assemblywomen - Wikipedia
A Guide to Ancient Greek Drama: Synopsis of Aristophanes' Assembly-Women
Crowell's handbook of classical drama pp 123- : Hathorn, Richmond Y. - Internet Archive
Dithyramb, Tragedy and Comedy pp. 327-328 - Internet Archive
Analysis of Play: Ecclesiazusae
Aristophanes: Ecclesiazusae - Tom's Learning Notes
Ecclesiazusae - Aristophanes - Ancient Greece - Classical Literature
Assemblywomen by Aristophanes - GreekMythology.Com
Ecclesiazusae - World History Encyclopedia
Ecclesiazusae - World History Encyclopedia
The Ecclesiazusae Summary - SuperSummary
Praxagora Study Resources - Course Hero
Google Scholar Search = Aristophanes Ecclesiazusae
JStor Search = Aristophanes Ecclesiazusae
Core UK Search = Aristophanes+Ecclesiazusae
Library of Congress Search = Aristophanes+Ecclesiazusae
Hulley, Karl K. “The Prologue of the Ecclesiazusae.” The Classical Weekly, vol. 46, no. 9, 1953, pp. 129–131. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4343346.
Olson, S. Douglas. “Anonymous Male Parts in Aristophanes’ Ecclesiazusae and the Identity of the Δεσπότης.” The Classical Quarterly, vol. 41, no. 1, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 36–40, http://www.jstor.org/stable/639021.
Tsoumpra, Natalia. “Undressing and Cross-Dressing: Costume, Ritual, and Female Empowerment in Aristophanes.” Illinois Classical Studies, vol. 45, no. 2, University of Illinois Press, 2020, pp. 368–98, https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/illiclasstud.45.2.0368.
Casement, William. “Political Theory in Aristophanes’ Ecclesiazusae.” Journal of Thought, vol. 21, no. 4, Caddo Gap Press, 1986, pp. 64–79, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42589924.
Greek Versions
Aristophanous komoidiai. Comedies Volume V Aristophanes Frogs Ecclesiazusae- Internet Archive
Aristophanis Ecclesiazusae edited by J.W. Van Leeuwen
Loeb Edition: L179 Aristophanes III Lysistrata Thesmophoriazusae Ecclesiazusae Plutus - B.B. Rogers
Translations
Delphi Complete Works of Aristophanes: Assemblywomen
The Congresswomen (Ecclesiazusae) trans by Douglass Parker
Birds and Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) : Aristophanes - Internet Archive
The knights ; [and], Peace ; [and], the birds ; [and], the assemblywomen ; [and], Wealth : Aristophanes : - Internet Archive
The Knights; Peace; Wealth; The Birds ; The Assemblywomen [1986]
by Aristophanes; Translated by David Barrett and Alan H. Sommerstein
ISBN 0140443320 9780140443325
https://archive.org/details/knightspeacewea00aris/mode/1up
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